EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — For nearly a week, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) has been experiencing an ongoing IT outage across its clinics and campus that has plagued students, staff and patients.
Via its website, TTUHSC reported that IT issues “disrupted” some of their computer systems and apps, which prompted them to take their systems offline out of “an abundance of caution.”
People can find answers to general questions regarding the ongoing issue here.
KTSM reached out to officials with TTUHSC to confirm whether the ongoing issue is related to the ransomware attack that impacted the University Medical Center (UMC) in Lubbock, which is connected to Texas Tech. They did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Texas Tech Physicians has also reported “ongoing technical difficulties” across its clinics in Lubbock, Amarillo and the Permian Basin area.
KTSM spoke with El Pasoan Jorge Emiliano, who takes his elderly parents to their appointments at Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso.
He said he was given the option to reschedule his father’s appointment until further notice or to take the appointment after having filled out “extensive” information due to the systems being down.
“I try to accompany my parents to their appointments as much as I can. When I can’t, they have to come alone and fend for themselves as best as they can. At this age, my father can’t fully fend for himself. By that I mean he cannot provide all of the information they’re asking of him.” Emiliano said.
“In this instance, if they’re asking him when was his last visit, what are the names of the medications he was prescribed, he’s not going to know,” Emiliano said.
He added that it is not easy for him or the elderly to just reschedule at any given time and highlighted how if his father or any elder were forced to come on their own, they would not be at the age where they can comprehend everything being asked of them, including filling out paperwork all over again.
KTSM also spoke with students and staff who did not want to be interviewed on camera, who described the situation as an “inconvenience.”
Officials with the UMC in El Paso said they have not been affected by the IT outage at TTUHSC.
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