Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian, on Thursday, November 14, announced the implementation of a new tag system for patient attendants in government hospitals. The system will be introduced in a phased manner across 36 government medical colleges, 37 district headquarters hospitals, and 320 taluk hospitals. The decision was prompted after Dr Balaji Jagannathan, a senior oncologist at the Guindy Multi-Speciality Hospital in Chennai, was stabbed by the son of a cancer patient.
The measure aims to reduce overcrowding and enhance the safety of healthcare professionals, echoing concerns raised following the rape and subsequent murder of a postgraduate medical student at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. The new system, piloted at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in early October, aims to reduce crowding and improve security. Each patient will be issued two color-coded tags for their attendants, with green for surgical super specialties, red for Intensive Care Units, yellow for super speciality departments, and blue for general wards.
The tag system will be implemented by the Directorates of Medical Education and Research and Medical and Rural Health Services. In response to requests from doctors' associations, metal detectors and baggage scanners will also be piloted in one or two hospitals.
Minister Subramanian highlighted the increasing public trust in government hospitals, leading to a rise in patient numbers. He also noted the introduction of pay wards in 15 government hospitals to improve accessibility for the middle-income group. Many patients who were previously treated at private hospitals are now turning to government hospitals due to the improved infrastructure and trust in doctors.