AIIMS servers hit for over 24 hours by technical snag

NEW DELHI:  A technical snag at AIIMS made the institute’s server inoperable for over 24 hours. The issue came to notice on Wednesday when the servers did not function properly in the morning leading to delays in crucial functions of the hospital including registration of the patients, access to reports, and sample collection.

Later in the day, the system became inaccessible to the staff. The technical issue continued till Thursday morning and was rectified only around the afternoon. “The lab reports were inaccessible and we even faced difficulty in imparting routine activities in the ward due to the technical failure,” a doctor said.

Prof Rima Dada, spokesperson of the institute said maintenance led to the shutdown of servers and e-hospital services of the institute, which have been restored now. While the matter led patients to face disorder and difficulty in consultation, it reminded staff of cyber attacks the institute has faced in the past year.

However, Dada refuted any cyber incident and maintained that only maintenance led to the temporary shutdown of the digital services of the hospital. In November last year, the institute faced disruption in services due to a ransomware that infected five of its servers putting e-hospital and other services to remain shut for nearly two weeks. The latest attack, reported on June 6 this year, was a malware attack that forced the e-hospital service to remain inaccessible for a whole day. The services were later restored.