Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures for visiting doctors of different specialties, during their visit to CGHS Wellness Centres – Office order

 Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures for visiting doctors of different specialties, during their visit to CGHS Wellness Centres –  Office order

F No. 20-2/2021-2021-CGHS/CZ/DIR/CGHS
(E-file number 8139325)
Government of India
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Office order

Subject: Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures for visiting doctors of different specialties, during their visit to CGHS Wellness Centres

Computerization in CGHS started in 2006 and by 2008 all Wellness Centres had transitioned to working online while attending to patients. However, the visiting doctors from government hospitals like Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) and Safdarjung Hospital continued working offline. With digitization being adopted in CGHS for providing more and more online services and data entry, it was decided to include the visiting doctors also in the ambit of online health data entry of beneficiaries, the purpose being as follows:

1. The medicines to the maximum extent possible be prescribed from the available Wellness Centre stock (mainly generic medicines issued by MSD and Jan Aushadhi), the focus being on prescribing available generic medicines as per Gal policy, and reduce the dependence on Authorized Local Chemist.
2. Capture the credentials of all doctors (whether in-house or visiting) in the CGHS database for prescription audit purpose.
3. Reduce the waiting time of beneficiaries in the Wellness Centre by doing away with the need for beneficiary to wait in line again to get an online prescription.

In this regard, an OM on “Guidelines & Standard Operating Procedure for specialists and GDMOs with PG degree from Wellness Centres/ Government hospitals visiting CGHS Wellness Centres” was issued vide Office Order 20- 2/ 2021- 2021-CGHS/CZ/DI R/CGHS dated 23 May 2022. In continuation of the said office order and in order to further smoothen the process of visiting doctors from government hospitals working online while visiting CGHS Wellness Centres, the following guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures are issued:

1. All visiting doctors of various specialities shall be issued Visiting Doctor ID (_VD) by Additional Directors of city/zone. This ID has the functionality of GDMO ID (doctor ID) e., medicines would be issued/indented from the visited Wellness Centre and not parent Wellness Centre. This _VD ID shall be transferred by CMO I/C to the next Wellness Centre to be visited by the visiting doctor and received by the next CMO I/C on the day of the visit. To a beneficiary, the _VD ID would be visible as a “specialist” in the online appointment system.
2. As stated in the previous OM, it is reiterated that the existing “specialist ID” (which issues/indents medicines from parent rather than visited Wellness Centres) shall be done away with and _VD ID shall also be created for all specialists of Wellness Centres/Polyclinics since Polyclinics are located in the vicinity of Wellness Centres and medicines can be issued/indented from the said Wellness Centre. This is to ensure that beneficiaries from outside the city are not issued/indented medicines from outside city parent Wellness Centre by default, which leads to grievances and complaints. In case a beneficiary insists for medicines to be issued/indented from parent Wellness Centre, the quantity shall be made zero by the visiting doctor/Polyclinic doctor and the beneficiary may visit his parent Wellness Centre for the required quantity of the medicines to be entered online by the GDMO.