The West Bengal government issued an ‘urgent order’ on Monday mandating faculty members and senior residents of State-run Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH) in Kolkata to mark their attendance twice a day (on arrival and departure) on the AEBAS FACE-based Aadhaar authentication application on their phone. Besides, they were also instructed to apply for leave “via proper channel” on the online system.
This comes weeks after the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued show-cause notice flagging eight ‘deficiencies’ at the NRSMCH.
In the show-cause notice, the commission cited that 18 out of 20 departments have insufficient data in their Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS). It also highlighted other issues such as insufficient cadaver data, discrepancies during examinations, and unfilled vacancies of senior residents in several departments.
The commission also mentioned “a monetary penalty not exceeding ₹1 crore per violation or for any act of omission by the medical institution.” Other stringent action too will be stipulated, it stressed.
‘Technical glitches’
In response to the notice, principal of NRSMCH, Dr. Indira Dey, issued clarifications in a letter to the Director of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board of the NMC. She cited “technical glitches”for insufficient attendance data. “It is to be noted that they gave manual attendance on registers regularly. We are trying to improve the same,” Dr Dey wrote in her letter on May 10.
The notice also cited that there was insufficient data on cadavers, bed occupancy, cytopathology, and operation theatres. For many of these allegations, the hospital authorities cited technical issues.
The NMC also cited video evidence from August 1, 2024, and alleged that a certain examination hall “looked too crowded and students were talking to each other while writing exam.”
Furthermore, it underlined that according to data, bed occupancy at NRSMCH is only 73%. While the principal countered the allegation by claiming that bed occupancy in the hospital was over 80% in all months except June 2024, she also blamed the cease-work protests by junior doctors from August 2024 for a dip in the admission of patients.
The resident doctors and medical students of NRSMCH were part of the protests that erupted in the State after the rape and murder of a female doctor on duty in August 2024. While the protests were largely motivated by the people’s demand for justice for the victim, the medical fraternity, particularly the junior doctors, also demanded specific improvements in the public health infrastructure of West Bengal.
In a related development, the NMC in a notification on May 19 said legal action is being taken against Sanjiban Hospital and Medical College in Howrah, which has allegedly been running a medical course without the commission’s authorisation.
Published – May 21, 2025 12:58 am IST
