New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) From an average 175 X-rays done daily at AIIMS here, the number has gone up to an average of 653 X-rays after suspending the appointment system following which there has been no waiting list in the last two months. Earlier, patients would need to take an appointment first and then come to the hospital to undergo the investigation, Dr Deep N Srivastava, head of Department of Radio-Diagnosis, AIIMS said. They were required to visit again for consultation at the OPD. "The appointment system was done away with by September-end. Now patients after visiting the OPD come directly, undergo X-ray and collect the film immediately thereafter. This was done to reduce their frequent visits to the hospitals," Srivastava said. "From an average of 175 X-rays being done daily at AIIMS, the number has increased to an average of 653 per day after the Department of Radio-Diagnosis removed the appointment system following which there is no waiting list for the last nearly two months," he said. In this way, X-rays of 478 patients were additionally done in the last two months. If X-rays of these patients were not done in AIIMS, then they would have been forced to get X-rays done from outside. Patients who have to spend Rs 300 for X-rays in an external lab are now getting it done at Rs 30 at AIIMS, greatly reducing the financial burden on the patients, the official explained. It is also worth noting here that for these additional X-rays, neither any additional machine was purchased nor any additional radiographer was hired and this additional work has been done in AIIMS only with the available resources. "This has been possible due to proper management of resources and increasing the time duration," he said. These changes in patient services have been implemented following instructions by the Ministry of Health to implement the recommendations of a committee constituted by Mandaviya to evaluate the current infrastructure and suggest changes to improve patient related OPD services at AIIMS, New Delhi. PTI PLB SRY