Despite gradually switching over to biometric (fingerprint based) attendance systems, even major government teaching hospitals have decided to keep the attendance register concept alive. And if you were to ask why, the reasons would range from ‘backup in case the system crashes’ to ‘employee satisfaction’.
“For years, hospital workers have been signing their attendance and there is a certain satisfaction attached to it. So, we have decided to keep the option for them,” said Stanley Medical College Dean Dr S Geethalakshmi. A similar decision had been taken by the Deans at Madras Medical College and Kilpauk Medical College, though the reasons were slightly different. “From accounting to payroll processing, our staff are not acquainted with the system. So, we will have the registers side-by-side to ensure there is no confusion in administration,” said Dr Ramakrishnan, Dean of KMC.
The order to install biometric systems in government hospitals was, rather ironically, triggered by a rat. When a rat chewed on the face of a dead infant at the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children in August, it sparked off a series of surprise inspections by Health Minister Dr V S Vijay. During the course of his inspections, he found staff members ‘late’ and ‘missing from duty’ in all hospitals. Furious after hearing that they were fudging their attendance records, he not only suspended over 10 staff members but also ordered the installation of biometric attendance systems in all government hospitals.
A GO was passed to that effect on September 15 and hospitals were asked to complete installing the system by October 1.
While the three major teaching hospitals in the city seemed to have taken the GO seriously, the smaller hospitals were dragging their feet over procuring and installing the system. None of the Government Peripheral Hospitals (Tondiarpet, Anna Nagar and so on) had moved the process along and the biometric systems were yet to be purchased. The same applied to major hospitals like the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital, Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children and even Government Royapettah Hospital. While officials maintained that tenders had been passed, workers told City Express that they were against the system and were happy that it was stalled. “This will restrict our movements and waste a lot of time. Instead of working in one part of the hospital, I will have to go and wait in line to put my thumb there and then walk all the way back,” complained a sweeper at MMC, who had stayed away from the one-time fingerprint registration that was going on.
MMC Dean Dr V Kanagasabai said that he had assuaged the fears of lower level workers by holding separate meetings and assuring them that they would not be penalised for being late a few times.
“We have registered 90 per cent of our staff and are hopeful that we can finish before Monday, when it will be formally inaugurated,” he added.
Comments
0 comment