Vijayawada: In a proactive move aimed at ensuring attendance, the state government has issued a directive mandating the adoption of a biometric attendance system for professors and assistant professors across all medical colleges. This step was taken to ensure that no government doctor can ignore their duties to work at private clinics.
The decision prompted by the Director of Medical Education (DME) Narasimham, mandates the immediate implementation of a biometric attendance system in all government medical colleges. This initiative comes in the wake of concerns raised by the National Medical Commission (NMC) after detecting irregularities in the usage of a facial recognition mobile application for attendance tracking.
Also Read:NMC notice to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Medical College over Inadequate faculty Attendance
Last year, the state government introduced the Facial Recognition Based Attendance System (FRBAS) across all departments, emphasizing the importance of employees working from their designated workspaces. Under this system, employees are required to register their attendance three times a day— at 9 am, 2 pm, and 4 pm. While the majority of employees have adhered to this protocol, concerns arose regarding doctors taking advantage of the flexibility as they leave to attend private clinics right after marking their attendance, reports the Times of India. Taking cognizance of this problem, NMC recommended the swift implementation of a foolproof biometric attendance system, ensuring a more accurate and tamper-proof method of monitoring faculty attendance.
Under the new system, professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and resident medical officers are required to record their attendance through biometrics twice daily. The attendance records will be seamlessly integrated with the payroll system, facilitating the release of salaries for those maintaining an attendance rate exceeding 75 per cent in a given month.
This initiative, spearheaded by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), also includes a significant shift in responsibility, with college vice-principals entrusted with the task of overseeing faculty attendance. To ensure transparency and accountability, the attendance details must be uploaded to the National Medical Commission (NMC) dashboard every fortnight. Principals of medical colleges will bear the responsibility of updating the attendance details on the NMC portal, reports The Daily.
Apart from suggesting salary reductions, DME also instructed the principals to take disciplinary action against anyone who does not abide by the rules. “The new system is expected to bring more discipline in the faculty of teaching hospitals and provide better healthcare services to the poor,” said a senior official.
Also Read: NMC notice to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Medical College over Inadequate faculty Attendance