Haryana doctors launch hunger strike against Geo-fencing Attendance System

Chandigarh: Arguing that the implementation of the Geofencing-based Attendance Management System would lead to a serious breach of privacy rights, harassment of medical personnel and leak of personal information, doctors, along with several healthcare staff from various departments in Haryana, observed a hunger strike on Thursday.

The hunger strike was carried out as promised by the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA), which had earlier warned that if the government failed to withdraw the order on using the geofencing-based attendance system, doctors and health employees across the state would launch a 24-hour hunger strike on August 28.

The protesters staged a sit-in at the Civil Surgeon office on Mall Road, where two employees from each association of health officials and employees participated. Under the banner of the Swasthya Vibhag Karamchari Talmel Committee, Haryana, employees began a dharna at 9 am, which continued till 5 pm.

Also read- Haryana doctors call Geo-Fencing Attendance Illegal, announce hunger strike

Medical Dialogues had previously reported that the Haryana health department announced its decision to introduce a geofencing-based attendance system for its employees, including doctors and healthcare staff across the state, which received strong opposition from the medical community. The system, which uses a mobile app to track the real-time location of doctors to verify their presence at their assigned workplaces, sparked concerns over privacy and security risks.

Under the new system developed by the National Health Mission (NHM), Haryana, the health department aims to ensure transparency in administration by recording the presence of healthcare professionals at their designated workplaces. The geofencing-based attendance system automatically log attendance when employees enter or leave predefined geographic boundaries, adding an extra layer of security.

As part of this initiative, the disbursement of salaries to all officers and employees will be strictly based on the attendance data recorded by the geofencing system. In a communication dated May 30, the Additional Chief Secretary of Health informed the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), the Mission Director of the National Health Mission (NHM), and the Chief Executive of Ayushman Bharat Haryana Health Protection Authority that salary payments for health officials would depend entirely on data captured through the geo-fencing-based attendance management system. However, the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA), which represents government doctors in the state, voiced strong opposition to the move.

Now, health officials and employees associated with the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA), along with associations of dental surgeons, nursing, pharmacy, OT technicians, radiographer, MPHW, GDA, NHM, contractual, HKRNL, handed over a memorandum to Civil Surgeon Dr Poonam Chaudhary, demanding withdrawal of the government order.

Doctors have called the move a serious breach of privacy and workplace harassment. Some protesting employees alleged that certain officers were harassing doctors, nurses, and health workers by denying facilities, including maternity leave, to force them into marking attendance through personal mobile phones under the geo-fencing-based attendance management system.

Calling the initiative "impractical" and "illegal", Dr Sanjay Verma told The Tribune, "This will not only violate the right of privacy mentioned in the India Constitution, but will also violate the orders of the Supreme Court. The risk of cybercrime will also increase for the officer/ employee and there is a possibility of financial loss as the employee’s mobile SIM is linked to the Aadhaar card and bank account."

Rajesh Singla from the Pharmacists Association said, "All officers/ employees working in the Health Department are already registering their attendance based on a biometric attendance system, so there is no justification for registering attendance under geo-fencing-based attendance management system."

Dr Ashish also expressed surprise and said that the order was being implemented on the officials and employees of the Health Department, who had done a tremendous job and worked as frontline workers during the Covid pandemic when people were afraid to come out of their home, then doctor and health workers were providing health services to the people by risking their lives.

Also read- Geofencing attendance now mandatory for doctors: DGHS order sparks backlash