There was also no software available, designed for the physician which was quick, user friendly and gave the patient's medical history at a blink, in one sheet. Not to mention reminders as to when the patient was due for his next test, and the options or modes for treatment.

Tata Consultancy Services has tied up with Berdy Medical Systems and has incorporated the proprietary Berdy SmartClinic programme into its hospital management system, giving an integrated package with all the interfacing required to help doctors and administration, simultaneously.

SmartClinic can also beused independently by general practitioners or doctors in private practice.

There are more surprises. For doctors who are not keyboard savvy (though SmartClinic demands minimum usage of this), there is voice-into-data interface where he can speak into the computer the patient's problem, diagnosis etc. Berdy's package also facilitates retrieval of data using voice, said its creator, Jack Berdy, the founder and CEO of Berdy Medical Systems in the US.

This has not been devised by anybody else, according to Berdy. If a doctor wants to retrieve the files of all patients who have crossed 40 years or who have a specific blood pressure, this can be done in Berdy's programme by speaking into the computer.

The cost of the package without the voice facility works out to around Rs 25,000, but this has not yet been finalised, said TCS resident manager K Jayaramakrishnan.

TCS offers various modules for the hospital management system (HMS) starting from in-patient admission, ward management, lab management,pharmaceutical supplies, stores and out-patient management, which are interfaced to save time, costs and minimise errors. Now it is working on theatre management, ambulance management, laundry, dietician (where hospitals have more than 2,000 diets for various kinds of patients) etc as extra modules. Soon insurance will also be linked into the package but that awaits privatisation, Jayaramakrishnan said.

There are others in the market who offer hospital management systems, but none as comprehensive as TCS range, according to senior vice-president UK Ananthapadmanabhan of Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital in Coimbatore. In terms of competition there is Quest Ciscon, Musiri Software, Pentafour, ECIL, Kale Consultants, Siemens and Wipro etc.