Telangana Government to tackle low attendance rates of hospital staff with bio metric systems

Hyderabad : State-run hospitals, primary health centers (PHCs) and Community health centers (CHCs) are set to see new bio metric attendance systems installed soon. To make sure that all doctors, nurses and supporting medical staff turn up at their workplaces on time and clock the required number of hours, the state government has taken this measure.This comes soon after reports surfacing that the attendance rate among doctors in state-run facilities is a deplorable 20-30%

A senior official from the state health department said the step is being taken since in smaller facilities, the attendance levels are even lower, because the doctors prefer setting up a private practice on the side, which earns them more money. This practice, though lucrative is highly unethical, since in most cases, the patients who turn up to the hospitals do not have a doctor who they can turn to. This makes them go to private hospitals.