Chandigarh to disallow manual attendance at health facilities from May 1

Following the health facilities’ failure to start the smart attendance system, the Chandigarh administration announced a decision to disallow manual attendance from May 1.

Following the health facilities’ failure to start the smart attendance system in the last five months, the UT administration on Tuesday announced a decision to disallow manual attendance for the staff from May 1.

Chandigarh administration announced its decision toto disallow manual attendance at health facilities from May 1. (HT File)

Speaking on the same, health secretary Yashpal Garg said “In October last year, review meetings were conducted for starting the smart attendance system in the health facilities. Hospitals were directed to switch to the smart system, but no implementation of the order has been done. At that time, GMSH-16 purchased 10 face recognition attendance system machines, but are still taking the attendance manually.”

“In October, GMCH-32 had not even started the process for procurement of systems. RFITD card-based machines were procured by the hospital in 2020, but these were never put to use. All the regular, deputation, contract staff, were asked to mark their attendance on these machines from November 1, 2021, but nothing has been done so far,” he said, adding that since public money has been spent on the machines, they should be made functional without further delay.

During the inspections of health facilities, the secretary had observed that the staff continued to mark m their attendance on manual registers. The actual arrival and departure time of staff was not recorded. It has been observed that due to the non-punctuality of some, patients were made to wait for long.

“Looking at the lackadaisical approach of hospital authorities, it has been decided not to permit manual attendance from May 1. Each facility should be provided with a biometric/face recognition/card-based attendance system. If required, additional Smart Attendance Systems may be purchased,” Garg said.

He further added, “The director principal GMCH-32, director health services and director (AYUSH) will take immediate action to remove the deficiencies in the implementing system. Senior officials should lead by example.”