JEDDAH, 15 December 2004 — The Ministry of Health has implemented a new system using a fingerprint ID to record its employees’ attendance at work. The system began operating on Monday for all MOH employees in all of its institutions.
“The machines have been installed at all the main entrances of the ministry in Riyadh and are operating. All ministry employees have registered their fingerprints as an ID that is recognized by the machines in order to verify attendance,” announced Dr. Khaled Al-Merghalani, general supervisor of media and health awareness.
The machines will operate from the beginning of the working day at 7 a.m. and will be turned off at 8:30 a.m. They will again be operational from 2:15 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. Dr. Al-Merghalani said the system would replace the previous one of signing attendance and departure sheets.
The ministry’s general services department is responsible for operating and maintaining the machines. Dr. Al-Merghalani emphasized that the new system would not eliminate the role of each department supervisor to check on his employees during working hours.
Employees were informed about the new system a week ago. It is being implemented because it is an improvement over signing sheets upon arrival and departure. “The system is in response to a directive from the minister himself who specified it be used for all employees and supposedly at all ministry buildings everywhere in the country,” said an MOH source.
Arab News contacted health affairs administrations in Makkah and Jeddah but neither had any information about the new system. “We have not received any information about this new system. It is supposed to be implemented throughout the ministry but we have no machines installed here and don’t know if and when to expect the system to be implemented here,” a source in Jeddah said. He suggested that the system may be tried first in Riyadh before being implemented all over the country.
