ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has decided to restart the biometric attendance system for its employees from Wednesday.

The biometric attendance system was suspended in the first week of March in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

However, the employees have expressed concerns over the decision saying it can become a reason for the spread of the virus. But the hospital management is of the view that time has come to move towards normalisation.

According to a circular issued on Aug 4, doctors, postgraduates, house officers, nurses, paramedics and other staff have been asked to mark their attendance through the biometric attendance machine from Aug 5 (today).

The circular, signed by Deputy Executive Director Dr M. Iqbal Khan Durrani, states that non-compliance would not be acceptable and the employees will be marked as absent.

In future, salaries of the Pims employees will be prepared on the basis of the biometric attendance, it added.

Besides, the suspension of the biometric attendance, the outpatient departments (OPDs) of the hospital were also closed.

A senior doctor, requesting not to be quoted, said because of the suspension of biometric attendance a large number of employees had stopped coming to the hospital and were getting salaries without doing any work.

Another senior doctor said the decision had astonished him as 60pc of the staff was staying at home due to the closure of OPDs.

“The management wants them to come to the hospital just to mark their attendance as they don’t have anything to do unless OPDs are reopened. Moreover, the decision will put the employees at risk as they will not only mark attendance on machines but will also have to travel to the hospital and back unnecessarily during which they could be infected,” he said.

“We have controlled the virus and should not allow it to spread again due to our blunders,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2020