PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday launched a GPS-based biometric system in five teaching hospitals of the province to ensure presence of staff members and improve patient care.

Among the hospitals are Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar, Ayub Teaching Hospital in Abbottabad and Mardan Medical Complex in Mardan along with Khyber Girls Medical College and Institute of Kidney Diseases Peshawar.

During a special ceremony organised at the Lady Reading Hospital for the purpose, health minister Shahram Tarakai said the biometric attendance system had been launched to make health delivery network effective by ensuring presence of doctors, administrative staff and other employees at hospitals during duty hours.

He said the launch of the system was a key component of the government’s reforms agenda for its departments.

“Our government is taking solid steps to effectively use modern technologies in all government departments, especially those dealing with health and education, to improve public service delivery to the desired level,” he said.

Minister says initiative will help improve patient care

The minister said the biometric attendance system would provide real-time data about the attendance of employees via online dashboard, eliminate ghost employees, ensure transparency, improve capacity and productivity of institutions and departments.

He said the system would ensure accountability of staff members and thus, improving the efficiency of hospitals.

Tarakai said all hospital employees from top to bottom would be enrolled under the system.

“If the minister of a department is enrolled under the system. then there is no reason for others not to do so. Through this system, attendance of all types of employees will be monitored by the high-ups on a daily, monthly and annual basis,” he said.

The minister said the biometric system would be linked with pay slips of employees and that in case of absence, salary of the relevant staff members would be deducted.

He said the launch of biometric attendance system in health and educational institutions was an initiative of the provincial Information technology department.

“Initially, the system has been installed in the district education offices and five teaching hospitals. In future, it will be extended to all schools and health facilities across the province,” he said.

Tarakai said the government was working on a plan to give full autonomy to health institutions to enhance their service delivery.

“In future, every tertiary care hospital will have its own board of governors to run its affairs in a professional manner,” he said.

The minister lauded the role of Lady Reading Hospital doctors and administrative staff for providing the best possible health services to the people in the province.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2015

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