Biometric attendance at AFMC continues despite Min’s objection

Despite a year since the Union Defence Ministry cited security concerns and sought an exemption for its Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) from the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) Digital Mission Mode Project that aims to monitor attendance of faculty member in country’s medical colleges through a biometric system, the regulator is yet to act.

The Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), under the Defence Ministry, last December in a letter to the MCI had also asserted that there was no need of additional monitoring as absence from duty station without leave is a serious offence in the Armed Forces so the faculty i.e, serving medical officers cannot be absent from the duty.

Though the MCI in April this year agreed in principle with the concerns raised by the Defence Ministry, it is yet to amend the regulation in this regard to be cleared by the Union Health Ministry.

A senior official from the Health Ministry said that they were apprised of the matter but were waiting for the medical education regulator to amend the regulation to allow the AFMC to be exempted from the online monitoring system.

Seeking exemption from Online Faculty Monitoring System which is part of the DMMP, Major General Madhuri Kantikar, Deputy DGAFMS (Plg &Trg) in a letter to the MCI in December last had said that availability of personal data of faculty ie serving medical officers of armed forces in public domain may not be permissible as it will be considered a security breach.

She also pointed out that the “introduction of biometric finger print device for capturing of attendance of uniformed personnel may lead to divulging of details with respect to strength, turnaround time and other essential information of the AFMS compromising guidelines concerning national security.”

Further, mandatory periods of absence of faculty due to armed forces operational and other service requirements may be considered as deficiency of faculty during subsequent MCI assessment. The Ministry also talked about technical difficulties in installation of the system in AFMS Institutions as it will require clearance from appropriate security authorities including military intelligence.

While absence from the duty is considered serious offence in the Armed Forces, no officer can be shown as faculty simultaneously at two AFMS Institutions, since station of posting can be only one. Hence, there is always factual accountability, said the Defence Ministry.

Under the DMMP which aims to ensure ‘transparency and efficiency’ , everything will be online. Sitting in Delhi, the MCI officials can monitor everything, the faculty’s presence in college and how long they have taken a lecture among others.