Bhubaneswar, Jan. 30: The state government has decided to introduce biometric cards to ensure regular attendance of doctors, especially in rural parts of the state.

Sources said the biometric cards with chips would contain fingerprints of the doctors. On reaching the hospital, the doctors would have to use it to mark their attendance. In the first phase, these cards would be introduced in the three medical college hospitals in Cuttack, Burla and Berhampur apart from the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar.

Health minister Prasanna Acharya said: “We have information that the doctors are not visiting hospitals regularly. They stay at places far away from the hospitals where they are posted. This tendency must be checked to ensure better healthcare to people.”

Earlier too, the government had sought the help of technology to keep tabs on the truant doctors. Technology was first used for the purpose in Subarnpur district over a year ago with the then chief district medical officer (CDMO), Premanand Senapathy, taking the initiative.

Senapathy provided five block-level hospitals in the district with computers with webcams, so that he could communicate any time with the doctors audio-visually from the district headquarter. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) had funded the scheme which succeeded in bringing down absenteeism in the district to a large extent.

The webcams were functioning in Tarava, Ullunda, Binika, Dunguripalli and Birmaharajpur block hospitals of the backward district. Acharya witnessed a live demonstration of the webcam during his visit to the district last year.

However, the method was neither foolproof nor easy to implement in the hospitals located in far off areas where the truancy among doctors had been rampant. Hence the government had been looking for better and superior methods of monitoring the doctors’ attendance, especially in the rural areas.

Truancy among doctors has compounded a complicated situation created by the gaping vacancies of medicos in almost all parts of the state. Sources said that the present shortfall of doctors in the state was around 2,000 with fresh graduates not willing to take up work in the rural areas.

Sources said shortage of doctors having turned into a crisis a few years ago, the state government tried to tide over the situation by hiring doctors on contract. Even retired doctors were offered contract to work in far-flung areas. However, most of these doctors are allegedly staying away from their place of posting, causing inconvenience to the patients. The health scenario is particularly bad in the state’s tribal-dominated areas, including Koraput, Rayagada and Gajapati, where epidemics break out at regular intervals.

Given the circumstances even government cannot be sure as to how effective the biometric cards would prove in this purpose. The Orissa Medical Services Association (OMSA) has already opposed the move saying that such a move would terrorise the doctors. “This is not acceptable. Doctors in government hospitals should not be compared with those in private hospitals,” said OMSA president Madhu Sudan Mishra.