Authorities are all set to use advanced an internet Protocol-IP/GPRS-based biometric device to record the attendance of doctors and staff in the government headquarters hospital at Nellore from February 1.

Although a biometric attendance recording system was introduced about three months ago in the hospital, the data has to be retrieved manually. The new advanced device installed now will transfer the data immediately to a centralised server located in the Collectorate. This enables the authorities there to check the number of doctors and other paramedical staff available in the hospital at any time through their computer systems.

The biometric equipment is capable of storing attendance data pertaining to 5000 personnel and will recognise individuals based on their fingerprints once they register the same. The entry and exit times of hospital staff will be recorded in the system and the attendance data will be used for payment of wages and also to keep a tab on the movement of doctors.

Complaints over absence of duty doctors in the hospital led collector B. Sreedhar, who is also chairman of the hospital committee, to opt for the biometric system of attendance. Mr Sreedhar said that the initiative was taken on an experimental basis and will be installed in primary health centres also if it is successful at the headquarters hospital.

Speaking to this newspaper on Tuesday, he did not rule out the possibility of using the biometric equipment in other departments also. He said that the software was developed by a collectorate employee Y. Nageswar Rao at his instance.

Incidentally, Mr Nageswar Rao, a software engineer, was instrumental in developing the petition monitoring system and GSM based street light control system for the Nellore Municipal Corporation in the past. The simple equipment installed in five divisions of the civic body resulted in a sizeable saving in power bills to the corporation. The Srikakulam civic body also installed the equipment after consulting Mr Rao.

Mr Nageswar Rao said that the software he developed can be put to multiple uses in various government departments with minor modifications. It can be used to plug leakages in the pension distribution system as well as the midday meal scheme, he added