JEDDAH, 28 December 2004 — Within days of introducing a new fingerprint ID for its employees, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is going back to the old system due to confusion and lack of planning.
The ministry had introduced a new system for recording its employees’ attendance using a fingerprint ID almost two weeks ago, but a week later it decided to suspend that and postpone it until after Haj because of inadequate number of machines. “Among the reasons for putting the new system on hold is that not all employees were issued their electronic ID cards and more machines were needed, “ said Saud Al-Rafiea, general manager of financial and administrative affairs.
A week before, Dr. Khalid Al-Merghalani, general supervisor of media and health awareness, had stated that the machines were installed at all the main entrances of the ministry’s building in Riyadh and were operating.
“All ministry employees have registered their fingerprints that are recognized by the machines to verify their attendance,” announced Dr. Al-Merghalani.
The machines were operational from the start of the working day at 7 a.m. and turned off at 8:30 a.m. and then turned on again when it’s time for the employees to leave at 2:15 p.m. until 3:30 p.m.
Dr. Al-Merghalani said that this system will replace the previous system of signing in the attendance and departure sheet. The general services department of the ministry is responsible for operating and maintaining the machines.
When Arab News checked with various employees last week about their new ID cards, not all of them had it. They were informed about the new system only a week before the date of implementation. The system was introduced because it was an improvement over signing sheets upon arrival and departure but the sources did not know whether the change has been made to better control and monitor the employees’ attendance.
“It was a directive from the minister himself to implement the system for all employees from top to bottom and supposedly at all the ministry’s administration buildings everywhere in the country,” said a 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 might be tried first in Riyadh before being implemented all over the country.
“There was chaos and a crowd formed the first few days because one of the machines did not work and some of the employees were not familiar with how to use the new card, some did not have their cards yet,” said a source at the general service department. He did not know how much this new system cost to have it operational. Another source confirmed that employees stood in lines outside the building for hours before making it to their desks around noon. There are around 3,000 employees at the ministry in Riyadh and only five machines were available at the entrances.
Two days ago the employees’ affairs administration allowed those without the new ID to sign in their attendance because of the crowd. Many employees complained that the time slot allowed for them to fingerprint their presence is not enough and by the time they make it to the machines they will be recorded as late or absent. Others worried about hygiene and contagious diseases spread from touching the machine.
