Patiala, Oct. 30 -- After years of complaints about critically ill or injured patients being shunted from one government health facility to another, losing precious time during transfers, the Punjab health department has revised its emergency referral mechanism, making prior coordination between the referring and receiving hospitals mandatory to ensure that the person in need of medical care reaches a facility equipped to provide the required treatment.

Until now, patients could be referred to the nearest higher-level health facility without prior coordination, potentially leading to further referrals if the required specialist or treatment was unavailable.

The department has introduced a standard operating procedure (SOP) for closed-lo...