Sirsa, Rohtak doctors & employees protest geofencing-based attendance system

Doctors and employees of the state Health Department observed a pen-down strike for an hour and staged a protest demonstration at the local Civil Hospital as well as other government health facilities across the district against the imposition of geofencing-based attendance management system on Monday.

The call for the strike and protest demonstration was given by the coordination committee of the Health Department officers and employees, Haryana.

The striking doctors and employees termed the said decision as dictatorial, unconstitutional and impractical. They raised slogans in support of their demand and against the government during the protest demonstration.

The doctors and employees of the Health Department have been opposing the implementation of the said system, terming it a violation of their personal liberty.

“We already have a biometric attendance system as well as a physical signature-based attendance system. Hence, there is no need to implement the new attendance system,” said Dr Vishvjeet Rathee, the president of the Rohtak district unit of the HCMS Association, Haryana.

He pointed out that the doctors and employees of the Health Department were being made to download a mobile application in their personal phones to track their location, which was unjust and unacceptable.

Associations of pharmacists, nurses, lab technicians and other employees of the department also participated in the strike and protest demonstration.

The patients visiting the Civil Hospital and other Health facilities in the district had to face inconvenience due to the strike by the doctors and employees.

Several patients returned without getting the treatment, while some went to private hospitals due to the strike. In a letter to the ACS (Health), Secretary-cum-Mission Director, National Health Mission, and Director-General (Health Services) of Haryana the coordination committee has urged to withdraw the decision to implement the geofencing-based attendance management system.

Sirsa: Meanwhile, employees of the health department in Sirsa intensified their protest against the government’s newly introduced geo-fencing based attendance system. On Monday, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other staff across all government health institutions in the district, observed a symbolic pen-down strike from 10 to 11 a.m. During this hour-long protest, the staff remained present at their respective workplaces but refrained from carrying out any medical or administrative duties. As no prior notice was given to patients, some faced inconvenience, though emergency services continued without disruption.

The protest saw active participation from members of the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association, Dental Association, Pharmacy Officers’ Union, Nursing Officers’ Union, NHM staff, and HKRN employees. Prominent participants included senior medical officer Dr. R.K. Dahiya, PMO Dr Pawan Kumar, consultant Dr Surajbhan Kamboj, gynaecologist Dr Rahul Garg, Dr Prateek Goyal, Nursing Association president Rajkumar Bhardwaj, Pharmacist Association president Yogesh Khanna, CPO Manish Dhoodia, Vijay Dhingra, and HKRN president Amit Kumar, along with many staff nurses and other employees.

Dr Vipul Gupta, district coordinator of the Doctors-Employees Coordination Committee, stated that despite repeated appeals, the government continued to ignore the legitimate concerns of health workers. He stressed that the geo-fencing system was not suitable for health services that involve fieldwork, calling it a direct attack on the privacy and dignity of employees. He also criticised the government’s move to make the installation of a tracking app on personal phones mandatory, with continuous GPS monitoring, describing it as a violation of individual rights.