AIIMS Delhi expands self-prescription facility for EHS patients

“It has been observed that employees have to wait in long lines to pick up their prescribed medications from the EHS pharmacy. In addition, they sometimes return empty-handed because the required LP drugs have not arrived in time or are not available. This causes great inconvenience to employees and their family members. Furthermore, it also compromises patient care as employees are not on duty to pick up their medications etc. and repeated trips to the EHS pharmacy also demoralize employees and their dependents,” said an office memorandum released by AIIMS Director Mr. Sriniwas.

According to the decree, the EHS establishment will finalize the predefined list by December 31, 2022. To facilitate prescribing for all staff without a self-prescribing facility, an in-house senior resident must be identified as an EHS SR by all clinical departments to allow on-site consultation and prescribing without having to visit the ‘EHS facility,’ the order added.

The Director also directed managers to replace EHS books for all active and retired employees and their dependents with a smart card and linked phone application or web portal by March 31, 2023. The same should be available to the employee in their smart card beginning April 1, 2023,” the order added.

The EHS pharmacy will operate from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. from January 1, 2023, to make it easier for employees to collect their medication outside of working hours. The EHS Pharmacy will dispense medications in sensible packaging for EHS recipients based on the prescription received.

An SMS alert will be sent to the EHS beneficiary when their medicine package is ready to be picked up. Medication collection from the EHS Pharmacy must be under video surveillance to know who is collecting the medication against their respective EHS card.