AIIMS-Delhi server down; government suspects ransomware attack

New Delhi, Nov 23: A ransomware attack on the AIIMS Delhi server affected the outpatient department (OPD) and sample collection services on Wednesday.

The administration is trying to restore the servers and has been holding meetings with the IT department and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) amid wild theories that have been circulating about a possible cyber attack.

"Today the server for National Informatics Centre's Hospital being used at AIlMS, New Delhi was down due to which outpatient and inpatient digital hospital services including, smart lab, billing, report generation, appointment system etc, have been affected. All these services are running on manual mode currently," said a statement from AIIMS.

"Measures are being taken to restore the digital services and support is being sought from Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and National Informatics Centre (NIC). AlIMS and NIC will take due precaution to prevent future such attacks," a statement added.

"The National Informatics Centre (NIC) team working at AIIMS has informed that this may be a ransomware attack which is being reported to and will be investigated by appropriate law enforcement authorities," it added.

Reportedly, AIIMS-Delhi, the hospital's server has been down since 7am on Wednesday."

Many patients took to social media to air their grievances because of the server problems.

"Trying to book an appointment at AIIMS via their website since morning and the page constantly is flashing an error," Medhavi Gupta tweeted.

"...My brother has an OPD appointment on December 6, 2022. I am not able to cancel or reschedule appointment from the site..." Harry Gail tweeted.

AIIMS Delhi was established in 1956 as an institution of national importance to serve as a nucleus for the development of excellence in all aspects of the healthcare system in India. The computer facility was launched in a small way in 1978.