Lucknow, Feb 18 : Patients visiting four government hospitals in Lucknow will soon be among the first to experience paperless OPDs, where barcodes or unique numbers will replace traditional OPD tickets.

Under this digital OPD system, doctors will open online prescriptions on their desktop computers, outlining necessary tests and medications. This information will transfer to pathology and pharmacy departments.

The Lok Bandhu Raj Narain hospital, along with Balrampur hospital, Avantibai and Jhalkaribai hospitals, are piloting this paperless system for patients.

Dr Ajai Shankar Tripathi, medical superintendent of the Lok Bandhu hospital, said, 'We will start this system in one OPD chamber. The aim is to find the hurdles, from both hospital and patient end, in implementing the system.'

Explaining the benefits under the new system, Dr Himanshu Chaturvedi, medical superintendent of the Balrampur hospital said: 'Even if paper documents, including prescriptions and diagnostic reports, go missing, we will still have records that can be recalled via barcode.'

He said that instead of receiving a traditional paper outpatient department (OPD) ticket at the hospital's counter, patients will be given a barcode or unique number. This unique identifier marks their participation in a digital OPD trial, a new initiative that is being tested.

The Uttar Pradesh government is strengthening the healthcare system and this initiative is one among several steps, said a government spokesperson.

/IANS