VIJAYAWADA: A medical officer was suspended on a slew of charges, including duping authorities by registering his biometric attendance using artificial fingerprints. Dr Bhanu Prakash, a medical officer for Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Guntupalli village in Bapatla district, has been skipping his duties and running a private clinic in Martur. He managed to mark his attendance with the help of subordinate staff. He has also been accused of sexually harassing auxiliary nurse midwives (ANM) and attending to duty in an inebriated condition.
The villagers raised the issue with Health Minister Vidala Rajini, who visited the PHC and immediately suspended the medical officer. The staff informed the minister that the PHC had 17 ANMs and Dr Bhanu Prakash reportedly had sexually harassed a few of them. Videos of the medical officer carrying out objectionable activities on the premises, reportedly shot by local media, were also shown to the minister. It has been reported that despite evidence against Dr Bhanu Prakash, no action was taken as he was being supported by a district-level official.
The staff explained to the minister said he had imposed his fingerprints on latex and took the help of a rubber stamp manufacturer to make an artificial thumb at a cost of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 and used it to register his attendance. The artificial fingerprints could be used for six months only, Rajini was told.
The incident gains significance at a time when the State government is mulling over introducing face recognition app for all government staff to register their attendance.
The system to mark attendance through face recognition app was implemented for government school teachers starting September 1, and it is likely to be introduced in junior and degree colleges for students as well. The health minister inspected the PHC and expressed displeasure as there were no inpatients.
Village sarpanch Mandala Siva Narayana alleged that the medical officer had been shifting all the medicines from the PHC to his clinic that was established four years ago.“Although the PHC provided 24x7 services, the staff are not available at most times. As a result, patients preferred to go to other hospitals,” Narayana said. He appealed to the government to take severe action against the medical officer and replace the entire staff working at the PHC.
YSRC village president Maddineni Ashok said they had received several complaints against Dr Bhanu Prakash and added that the PHC did not have injections for dog and snake bites as the medical officer would shift them to his private clinic. The issue was then taken to the notice of the health minister with the help of Society of Andhra Pradesh Network (SAPNET) Chairman Bachina Krishna Chaitanya, he added.
Rajini said strict action would be taken against all the illegal activities carried out by the medical officer and asserted that an enquiry would be ordered into the issue. The Health Minister assured the locals that all problems related to the PHC would be addressed.
Artificial fingerprints made using latex for Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000
Dr Bhanu Prakash, a medical officer for Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Guntupalli village in Bapatla, had imposed his fingerprints on latex and took the help of a rubber stamp manufacturer to make an artificial thumb impression at a cost of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 and used it to register his attendance. The artificial fingerprints could be used for six months. He skipped his duties for two years and established a private clinic