VMMC resident doctors urge college principal to remove biometric attendance

NEW DELHI: The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC) and Safdarjung Hospital has urged the college principal to remove biometric attendance for resident doctors.

The doctors’ association wrote to VMMC principal demanding restriction of duty hours up to 48 hours and extra pay for work hours beyond 48 hours. “With due respect and humble submission, we would like to draw your kind attention towards the use of biometric attendance for resident doctors. This online attendance system has many cons for resident doctors,” said a statement from VMMC RDA.

According to the issues raised by the doctors, resident doctors are not permanent employees and their duty hours exceed 48 hours per week, “which is beyond permissible duty hours”. “Kindly restrict the duty hours up to 48 hours,” the doctors urged.

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The doctors argued that they have “irregular” working hours and their evening emergency duties start from 4 pm till 9 pm on a daily basis.

“Hundreds of residents will be gathering in the morning to mark their attendances and it will be infeasible due to long queues and waiting time and it is a fact that residents have to reach early at first and manage OTs, wards, ICUs, labs, emergency rooms etc. for which most of the residents will miss their biometric attendance in the long run,” the RDA statement stressed.

Further, the doctors said that as per the Supreme Court guidelines, the duty hours of resident doctors should not exceed more than 48 hours per week. “If it exceeds, kindly consider to pay for extra working hours.”