Doctors oppose CCTVs in classrooms, biometric attendance

By Express News Service | Published: 09th August 2017 01:10 AM |





The biometric security system which will be used from Wednesday at Government Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit | Romani Agarwal

MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) has opposed the installation of CCTV cameras inside classrooms at medical colleges, and has decided to move the court against the decision of the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Amending the Minimum Standard Requirement for 50/100/150/200/250 MBBS Admissions Annually Regulations, 1999, the MCI had issued a gazette notification in January stating the Council will install biometric fingerprint attendance for capturing faculty attendance and that every medical college will have Close Circuit Televisions (CCTV) to provide live streaming of both classroom teaching and patient care.

Since there were complaints that the System Integrator (SI), appointed by the Council to implement new regulations as per notification, was not being attended to properly by the medical colleges, the MCI sent a circular to the deans of all the medical colleges in India mentioning that if the representatives of SI are turned away without any valid reason, the college would have to pay the additional visiting charges (`80,000 per visit) besides attracting breach of provisions of the regulation.

Ahead of the visit of SI to conduct a survey for implementing the new regulations at the Madurai Government Medical College on August 16, the TNGDA opposed the installation of CCTV cameras in the classrooms in all the medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. “Tracking faculties using cameras is a violation of human rights, and this will affect the privacy of both teachers and students. We will move the court against the new regulations of the MCI,” said Dr K Senthil, president of the Association.

Blaming the biometric attendance system, Senthil said, “Faculties are refused their vacation, allocated to them, based on the biometric attendance. Unlike faculties in Engineering or Arts and Science colleges, we have to teach students and treat the patients round the clock. Hence, emphasising that they work without a break is unfair. This will also be taken to court.”