232 health staff caught faking attendance

AS many as 232 government health employees in the State have been caught tampering with facial recognition attendance systems using State-issued iPhones, with 460 manipulation attempts recorded across 26 districts—raising urgent questions about digital governance, staff accountability, and potential disciplinary action.

- K KALYAN KRISHNA KUMAR/ S TRIMURTHULU @ Vijayawada / Kakinada

The tampering involved altering the date and time settings on iPhones to fake log-ins and falsely mark attendance in the Medical and Family Welfare Department. The discovery was made during a recent official review, prompting concern among senior administrators and triggering discussions on tighter controls.

An internal audit revealed that the manipulated devices belonged to Civil Assistant Surgeons, Assistant Professors, Programme Coordinators, Consultants, Staff Nurses, MLHPs, Data Entry Operators, and other personnel. Alarmingly, even staff from the MD National Health Mission were involved.

Officials said some employees attempted to bypass the system repeatedly—one officer made 14 attempts, another 12, with several others making between six and nine attempts.