A joint emergency meeting of IMA and Jhasa was held on Sunday at IMA Bhawan, Ranchi. It was decided in the meeting that all the doctors of Jharkhand will boycott biometric attendance from August 20.

More than 100 members of the organization from different districts participated in the meeting. The notification of the Personnel Department, on the basis of which the biometric attender system has been created and the decision taken by the Honorable High Court of Patna were discussed in detail and it was unanimously decided that the organization does not oppose the biometric attendance system, but at present it has been linked to salary in 03 districts Palamu, Sahibganj and Garhwa and an online portal related to it has been implemented by the department, due to which even after doing duty, doctors and para workers will have problems like repeated clarification and disciplinary action, salary blockage and salary deduction. This has angered the doctors. The department should have held a meeting with the officials of the organization before this. Will do their duty faithfully and honestly, will mark their attendance in offline register, but will not make biometric attendance.

Until it is equally applicable to all government employees of all departments of the state government. According to notification number 5637 dated 2413 of the Department of Personnel Administrative Reforms and Official Language, Government of Jharkhand, this will be applicable to all employees of the state government. In point number 3, this online biometric attendance has been made mandatory for every employee working in all the establishments under their control in all departments.

Alternative arrangements for electricity, network and server are not made available in rural areas, especially in hard to reach and very hard to reach places. Honorable Chief Secretary has instructed all Deputy Commissioners to obtain offline application forms also in view of the problems being faced in internet connectivity or server in the area in relation to the implementation of Jharkhand Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana. That is, Honorable Chief Secretary and Honorable Chief Minister are well aware of the problems of network and server.

The working hours and work places of doctors and paramedical staff are not fixed.

After hearing a petition related to the stoppage of salary due to biometric attendance of a doctor, the High Court, Patna, decided that the nature of duty of a doctor is special. It also involves doing night duty. The salary of a doctor cannot be stopped on the basis of biometric attendance alone. There is no such rule regarding stopping of salary. The Hon'ble Court said that the biometric attendance system is impractical for those whose duty hours are not fixed and whose duty is in shifts. The department should find a solution to this by holding a meeting with the people of the concerned organization.

Recruitment against vacant posts is not done as per IPS norms in all health institutions of different levels.

The Chief Minister has exempted the Police Department from the biometric attendance system considering it a casual service. Therefore, it is requested to the Chief Minister that the Health Department should also be exempted from the biometric attendance system or it should be declared that the Health Department is not a casual service.

There is no holiday in the health department even on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Central Government and State Government. Daily duty is 24*7. That is, according to the biometric attendance system, we are not given additional incentives for over day and over time. In the notification of the Personnel Department, it has been said to register attendance from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm, that is, it was made only for office workers. It should not be implemented in this emergency service providing department.

The organization has submitted a demand letter related to 15 point demands to the Honorable Principal Secretary on 28:05:2024, especially service confirmation, dynamic ACP on the lines of Central and Bihar Government, promotion, inclusion in specialist etc. Till our demands are accepted.

Considering the geographical location of Jharkhand state, in public interest, the organization has been trying for years to make necessary amendments in the Clinical Establishment Act with the aim of providing quality health care services to the last person in the village.

On the instructions of the then Under Chief Secretary Hon. Arun Kumar Singh, a team of five doctors was formed under the chairmanship of Campaign Director Virendra Kumar Singh, which compiled necessary suggestions related to reform and proposed to the department to exempt hospitals with less than 50 beds from the Clinical Establishment Act on the lines of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

It was also discussed that there is no need to amend the Act. Only the rule has to be changed, which does not require the approval of any cabinet or passing from the assembly. Despite this, it is unfortunate that no further action has been taken on this. The organization has expressed anger over this and said that the department should take concrete steps on this as soon as possible, otherwise the organization will be forced to agitate and the entire responsibility for this will be of the department.