CHENNAI: Raising concerns over the mobile attendance app, nurses working at Greater Chennai Corporation-run Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHCs) under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) claimed technical glitches are causing delays in marking their attendance, which they fear could lead to leave deductions despite them reporting to work within grace time.
The nurses said they have been instructed to use the GCC attendance app regularly from July, as salaries will be processed only based on attendance recorded through the app. When the TNIE visited around six UPHCs across Chennai, several nurses demonstrated the difficulties. They said the app often causes their phones to freeze.
Recalling an incident, a nurse claimed though she reached the hospital at 8.12 am, two minutes before the end of the grace period (8.14 am), she was able to complete the process only by 8.17 am, and the system recorded her as late for work. When she demonstrated the process to TNIE, the app took more than a minute to open, as her phone became unresponsive, which was not the case when she opened other apps.
After opening the app, she had to complete facial recognition by blinking, smiling or nodding her head, following which she had to wait for the app to fetch her location. Although the GPS coordinates appeared, the staff said they had been instructed to wait until the location name was displayed before clicking “Submit” to proceed to the check-in page. Even before clicking the “Check In” button, the entire process took nearly five minutes.
Nurses said the earlier biometric and facial recognition attendance system had been much simpler and less time-consuming. Under the current attendance system, three late entries result in deduction of one casual leave, while three more late entries could lead to loss of pay, they said.
“We report to duty before the grace period ends, but as the app takes minutes to complete the process, we are marked late,” another nurse said. “The corporation should fix the glitches, either extend the grace period to account for these technical delays or reconsider the rule of deducting casual leave after three late entries or restore the biometric attendance.”
They said the already existing workload due to staff shortage at almost every 138 UPHCs across the city, coupled with the app, has become an additional concern. The nurses also questioned why the app has been made mandatory only for nurses working under the NUHM, while permanent employees do not have such a system. Last month, these workers staged a protest at the Ripon building after receiving meagre salaries despite attending work on most days, alleging salary was calculated based on the app’s attendance without prior intimation that its use was mandatory. Following the protest, it was dropped for June and implemented in July.
Speaking to the TNIE, a corporation official from the public health department said, “We have asked to completely optimise the app to avoid any such technical glitches. Meanwhile, if nurses face such errors, they can always report to the zonal health officer.” The official added compared to last month, marking attendance through the app has improved a lot.
