Odisha Govt To Introduce Bio-Metric Attendance System For Staff In Hospitals In A Year

Bhubaneswar: In order to further strengthen healthcare services, the Odisha government will take a number of steps including introduction of bio-metric attendance system for the staff in hospitals in 2023-24 financial year.

Speaking to media persons on Thursday, Health secretary Shalini Pandit said the bio-metric system will be launched to ensure regular attendance of the doctors, nurses and other staff. In the first phase, it will be installed in district headquarters hospitals and medical colleges. Later, it will be extended to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres in (CHCs).

The government will appoint 5,000 doctors and 9,000 staff nurses and an MBBS doctor in every CHC in the state before the end of the financial year.

With a target to reach the patients in emergency within 20 minutes instead of present 30 minutes, the government will procure 236 ambulances with a budget of Rs 250 crore.

Stating that the government will open ‘Ama Hospital’ in all 147 Assembly constituencies, Pandit said those will be operational within nine months. Besides, selected CHCs and sub-divisional hospitals would be upgraded to ‘Ama Hospital’ and Rs 750 crore spent towards their development, she added.