From Sept 27, walk in to register for OPD at PGI, Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24

In view of the decline in the number of new Covid-19 cases, the PGI has decided to resume walk-in registrations for the New OPD from Monday. This is for the first time since the pandemic struck that the institute has opened walk-in registrations.

Registration timings

Registration for tele-consultation in the New OPD will be done from 8 am to 9 am on phone number 0172-275991

Walk-in registrations for the New OPD will be done from 9.15 am to 11 am

PGI Director Dr Jagat Ram said, “It will be a real task to manage crowd as patients are expected to turn up in huge numbers. However, this was the need of the hour as patients were desperate for walk-in OPDs. Many had complaints that the online system was inaccessible. We have fixed the time slot of walk-in OPDs from 9.15 am to 11 am so as to limit the crowd. Earlier, the timings were from 8 am to 11 am. Each department is expected to handle at least 100 patients per day, including patients from online consultation and walk-in registration.”

The registration for tele-consultation in the New OPD will be done from 8 am to 9 am on phone number 0172-275991, which has 19 lines. Walk-in registration for physical visit will be done from 9.15 am to 11 am at the respective registration counters. The online registration for physical visit to all OPDs is currently capped at 30 patients per department. It will be increased to 100 for opthalmology, hepatology and internal medicine and 50 for other departments.

The institute has requested patients visiting OPDs to follow the Covid-appropriate behaviour. Dr Naveen Pandey, incharge of OPD Administration at the PGI, said the institute would review the situation after two weeks. “There is no cap on walk-in registrations. However, the timings have been limited so that there is less crowding,” he said.

The PGI is now catering to 5,000 patients daily. Prior to the pandemic, around 10,000 patients used to visit the PGI. The OPDs were completely shut on March 19, a day after the first Covid-19 case surfaced in the city.

In April 2020, the institute shifted focus to tele-consultation service for providing general outdoor patient services. Subsequently, the PGI started calling patients for physical visits to various OPDs by appointment so as to avoid overcrowding. Services were gradually increased as the pandemic ebbed. Accordingly, the facility for online registration for physical visit to the OPDs was started in September this year with a cap of 30 patients per department.