Hundreds of patients had to wait for over two hours at KR Hospital here on Tuesday following a problem in the billing software.
Some of the patients had come for a fasting blood sugar test and they were the worst affected. Some of them experienced fatigue. There were 14 staffers in five billing counters and four outpatient counters of the hospital. They found it difficult to convince the patients.
They said that nothing could be done without creating and printing bills and all had to wait until the server functioned. About 1,450 outpatients visited the hospital and 120 of them were admitted as inpatients.
A staffer at the counter said that technical glitches had become frequent of late and it usually happened on Mondays and Tuesdays. The problem lasted for over two hours for the first time on July 27. Usually the server used to resume functioning in around 30 minutes.
Resident Medical Officer Dr Rajesh said that the problem was not specific to KR Hospital. It happened in all government hospitals across the nation simultaneously.