Implementing AEBAS: Doctors will have to punch only once every 24 hrs while entering or leaving the hospital, says NMC

New Delhi: Aiming to combat the issue of ghost faculty in medical colleges and to streamline the attendance of medical students and faculty, the National Medical Commission (NMC) is soon going to launch a portal. According to NMC officials, the new portal will have a biometric attendance system and the doctors will have to punch once in every 24 hours while entering or leaving the hospital.

The portal will be launched in a couple of days and the idea behind the portal is to know the presence of the doctors in colleges and with this, there will be no manipulation of data.

Speaking to ANI, Dr B Srinivas, Secretary, NMC, stated "We are facing a lot of issues in physical appearances, the dignity of the doctors was also there to make it more transparent. The new portal will be helpful for more transparency in NMC."

"The faculty will only have to punch once every 24 hours when they enter or leave the hospital so we can confirm the presence of doctors in the medical colleges/hospitals," he stated.

"This new portal will be soon cleared by the security to avoid hacking, and once it's opened every college will submit its data right from the beginning of the inception of the college. All the data relevant will be individually and physically, collected," he further said as quoted by PTI.

Notably, NMC has persistently urged medical colleges to adopt the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system (AEBAS). This move is aimed at ensuring transparency and authenticity in faculty attendance.

According to Dr Srinivas, “Using data from Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System dashboard will bring in more transparency. Seventy-five per cent attendance of the working days of two months on an average will be taken into consideration to reach a decision on whether a college is fulfilling the norms or not as far as attendance is concerned.”

"The 75 percent attendance criteria is for working days, Saturdays and Sundays will not be counted," Dr Srinivas clarified.

Earlier inspections used to be done even for a single day attendance, he said, adding that all the data will be available at any given time.

"Now, we would be able to access the data of January and February easily, but earlier inspections used to be done even for a single day attendance. It is only to show the presence of doctors in medical colleges." Dr Srinivas added.

"Now it will not be done by the inspector, the college itself will submit that data. So, at any given time all the data will be available. The advantage is that anybody across the world can click on that portal eg if the child is going to medical college can get all the details about that college more transparently," he added.

Moreover, to ensure transparency and reduce manual interference in the assessment of medical colleges, data from Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) portal will be used by the National Medical Commission, thus doing away with physical inspections, reports PTI.

However, some surprise inspections by the commission will continue to verify the data which is being uploaded on the portal as well as to check the physical infrastructure, Dr B Srinivas, further said.

Further, the NMC will also launch a portal where medical colleges can appeal online for any redressal of their compliance related to assessments, adds PTI report.

The NMC, in January, issued “Minimum Standard of Requirements for Postgraduate Courses-2023 (PGMSR-2023)” guidelines barring the faculty from engaging in private practice during college hours, to deal with the issue of ghost faculty in medical colleges leading to the burden on PG students.

Later in February, in its One Hundred Fifty-Seventh report, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare discussed several issues related to medical education such as infrastructure, faculty issues, and quality control of medical education.

While discussing the problem of faculty shortage across the medical colleges in the country and also the issue of ghost faculty, the panel opined, "NMC should make it easier for students and parents to report ghost faculty and zero attendance."

Noting that the faculty shortage is not only due to genuine shortage of qualified faculty, but also because the available faculty often lacks the inclination to teach at the college level, the Parliamentary Health Panel recommended the Government to strictly enforce the regulations already in place to curb the problem of ghost faculty and zero attendance.

Further, the panel suggested that NMC conducts regular inspections of medical colleges and take action against the colleges that are found violating the regulations. It also referred to the NMC's rules of limiting the appointment of non-medical teachers at medical colleges and opined that the authorities should introduce a transitional period allowing the non-MBBS faculties to continue teaching until enough MBBS-qualified educators become available.

Indian Medical Colleges have been reeling under a shortage of adequate faculty for a long time. Last year, in an assessment conducted for the academic year 2022-2023, NMC had unveiled a disconcerting reality within a majority of medical colleges. Those institutes were riddled with ghost faculties and senior residents, coupled with none meeting the mandated 50% attendance requirement.

Medical Dialogues had last year reported that 349 out of the total 654 medical colleges across the country got a show cause notice from the Apex Medical regulator for violations of the Minimum Standard Requirements 2020 including a deficiency in having the required faculty numbers.