Poor Biometric Attendance of Faculties: NMC Issues Show-Cause Notice to MGM Medical College Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur: Taking note of poor biometric attendance of doctors at government-run Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital (MGMMCH), the National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued show-cause notice to government-run Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital (MGMMCH), Jamshedpur.

Seeking to know the reason for less than 75% biometric attendance of doctors, the Commission has asked the management of the college to furnish its reply within two weeks, reports TOI.

Confirming this development, the Principal of the medical college Dr. K N Singh has informed the Daily that the college received the notice on January 26. He added, "I have called the meeting of all faculties on January 30 to find out the reason for not doing the biometric attendance, and will accordingly respond to the showcase."

The Apex medical education regulatory body, NMC found that several faculties had not been registering their attendance on the biometric facility for the past three months ending in January.

Also Read: Ensure 75 percent faculty attendance or lose recognition: NMC warns medical colleges

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, NMC issued the show cause notice after serving three reminders to the medical college regarding the poor biometric attendance of the doctors. Commenting on the matter, the principal of the medical college Dr. Singh mentioned that the number of faculties who have skipped the biometric attendance is not big. However, it is definitely a violation of the rules. If violation of the rules is established, the Commission will impose Rs 5 lakh fine on the principal and a penalty up to Rs 1 crore on the college management, as per the NMC provisions, informed the principal.

He further added that in the past the college management took disciplinary action against some of the doctors for not adhering to the biometric attendance system. 

Referring to the issue, a senior college faculty informed TOI on the condition of anonymity, "Over a dozen doctors were showcaused by the management for not recording their attendance on the biometric machine in 2022 but the move has not deterred the doctors from skipping the biometric device."

Apart from this, the faculty also informed that four doctors were reprimanded by the management for zero biometric attendance in the year 2023. Currently, the medical college has more than 159 doctors across 18 departments.

Also Read: 75 percent Attendance must for Faculty, Private Practice Banned During College Hours: NMC

Faculty shortage has remained an obstacle for several medical colleges across the country. To meet the faculty requirements, several medical colleges take help from guest lecturers, even though it is not permitted under the NMC rules.

Meanwhile, the NMC rules specify that undergraduate and postgraduate medical colleges imparting medical education must ensure that their faculties have 75% attendance of the total working days.

Last year, the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of NMC notified the "Guidelines for Under Graduate Courses under Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses & Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023", or the UG-MSR-2023 on August 16, 2023 in its official Gazette.

Para 3.1 (i) & (ii) of UG-MSR 2023 specifies that all medical colleges shall install an Aadhaar-Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) to be linked to Command and Control center of NMC and the daily AEBAS of the required staff (faculty, residents and supporting staff), preferably along with face linked recognition, shall be made available to NMC as well as on the Medical College Website in the form of daily attendance dashboard.

Further, these guidelines also specified that it shall be mandatory for medical colleges to have at least 75% of the total working days (excluding vacations) for all faculty and resident doctors.