Govt doctors boycott biometric attendance systems, Jharkhand doctors associations extend support

Dhanbad: The Government doctors boycotted the biometric attendance system on Saturday, protesting against “technical flaws” in it and said they will continue to do it till the “errors” are fixed. The doctors claimed that the salary of some of them was “wrongly” deducted based on data provided by the biometric attendance system.

“Salaries were given according to the biometric attendance system,” a senior health department official said on condition of anonymity.

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Following a call from the Jharkhand Health Service Association (JHSA), the doctors reached their places of work – offices, hospitals and health centres – on time but skipped the biometric attendance as a mark of protest.

Instead, they signed on manual attendance register, an office bearer of JHSA said.

The JHSA alleged that the health department has held up the December salary of some medical officers and deducted that of some others whose biometric attendance was not completed.

The director-in-chief of health Dr Krishan Kumar said, “The deputy directors of the health directorate, Ranchi, made their attendance through the biometric system today. So, it cannot be said that all medical officers have boycotted it.” Meanwhile, Jharkhand chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Jharkhand State Public Health Employees Association (JSPHEA) came in support of the doctors and asked the government to withdraw the biometric attendance till the system becomes snag-free across the state.

IMA state secretary Dr Pradip Kumar Singh said, “It is not fair to hold salary or deduct the amount from payment on the basis of the biometric attendance system that is not functioning properly at most of the centres.” JSPHEA state general secretary Sanjut Sahay said, “Around 80 per cent of health employees do not use biometric attendance system as it is not available at all centres across the state. Wherever the system is available, it mostly remains defunct.” He added that the government had withdrawn the biometric system during Covid period.

“The Covid-19 scare is here again. The health department should stop it immediately,” Sahay said.

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