Telangana Doctors Association opposes 24*7 GPS surveillance of mobile phones

Hyderabad: In order to assure that the government doctors abide by the duty rules, the state government is contemplating putting on 24X7 surveillance on them with the help of GPS trackers on their mobile phones. Thus the government will be able to trace all their movements, and doctors will not be able to continue private practice during duty hours. 

This came after the authorities received several complaints from patients who alleged that they had to wait for longer times and face other inconveniences as the doctors were not present in the hospital to attend to cases.

Other than the GPS tracking, the authorities are also thinking of ensuring proper CCTV monitoring of the doctors so that the superiors are aware of the doctors' whereabouts. The Health Secretary's office will be responsible for checking the CCTV feed continuously. There might also be a system including a control room and biometric attendance system.

The state government had issued instructions prohibiting government doctors from engaging in private practice and had also forewarned them of harsh punishment should they do so. But the laws continued to be broken. The General Administration department's state vigilance division has since proposed geotagging the physicians.

The doctors are absolutely against the idea of putting them under such tremendous surveillance. Condemning the proposal, Dr. Lalu Prasad Rathod of the Telangana Government Doctors' Association told the Times of India that doctors must not be treated as animals. "The medical profession is a sacred profession, and if one or two commit mistakes, it is not proper to punish the entire community," he said.

"There will be such people in every department. But it is not advisable to make all of them responsible," he added. Rathod said the government should keep in mind that Telangana ranked third in the nation in terms of medical and health facilities and that the programmes are drawing residents from other states. All of this was possible thanks to the efforts of those who work in the health department.

The doctors claimed that the new government initiatives had increased the workload for them and other staff members. In order to lessen the workload on the working professionals, they also urged that the government adopt a three-shift arrangement. Dr. Kalyan Chakravarthy, the association's acting president, and Dr. Deen Dayal, its state secretary, said that even though anomalies were discovered in some cases, all doctors shouldn't be used as scapegoats, reports Hans India.

Expressing extreme disappointment, one of the doctors stated, "Are doctors terrorists? A majority of them named in the report are ready to resign. These measures will reduce the government doctors' pool." "The inquiry was initiated by the vigilance department on its own. They have submitted the report to the government," said a health official adding, "Recommendations like GPS tracking don't fit in any realm of rules." 

Also Read:Chandigarh: Govt mulling 500 bedded Mother and Child Hospital on GMCH vacant land