Doctors To Be Brought Under CCTV Lens As Absenteeism Takes Its Toll On Public Health Infrastructure

Several reports on doctors’ absenteeism, including one prepared by the Niti Aayog, albeit published a few years ago, point to a dismal reality. Insiders said that the picture on the ground hasn’t changed much.

This week, six doctors working on a contractual basis in Beed in Maharashtra were sacked due to absenteeism.

Government Plans

In a move aimed at improving accountability and responsiveness in India’s public healthcare system, the Centre is now planning to implement a nationwide installation of CCTV cameras across hospitals and health centres.

The initiative, according to officials in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), is designed to ensure that doctors and hospital staff respond promptly to patients' needs, thereby enhancing real-time monitoring of hospital operations. 

Digital Health Mission

The measure aligns with the Narendra Modi government-backed "Digital Health Mission". The inspiration for the project has been taken from the successful state-level model implemented in Bihar. The control-room system, implemented as a pilot project over the past few months, has revealed that CCTV networks have already shown improvements in doctors’ punctuality and patient care. 

The NITI Aayog, too, has come out strongly in support of enhanced digital surveillance in the health sector in its white paper titled: Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India. 

"Smallpox was eradicated worldwide, and Polio has been eliminated in India. India has substantially reduced the incidence of HIV infections by more than half in the last two decades. Recent outbreaks, including COVID-19 and the Nipah virus, have been effectively contained or controlled. None of these initiatives would have been possible without strong public health surveillance systems in place. The time is right to enhance the surveillance of noncommunicable diseases and to replace traditional surveillance systems of data-entry with recent developments in digital health and technology, in alignment with the National Digital Health Mission," the document says.  

Bihar Model

The proposal builds upon the successful implementation of the model by the Bihar government.

The Bihar government had unveiled a plan to install over 23,000 CCTV cameras across its district hospitals and primary health centres. 

The motive of this project is to provide timely healthcare services and ensure patient safety. 

Sources stated that these cameras enable real-time monitoring of both medical treatment and hospital security, and have given a push for digital health reforms in the state. 

Further, ₹2 crore has been sanctioned as part of the first phase of the project, with the total cost estimated at ₹20 crore. After the implementation of the project in Bihar, the monitoring led to timely assistance to patients, reduction in OPD start time, and improved attendance rates. 

Timely Access To Healthcare

Timely access to health facilities was found to be a crucial requirement.  The Niti Aayog, in another of its reports, Emergency and Injury Care at District Hospitals in India, pointed out that "facility-level physical infrastructure, human resources, equipment and supplies, point of care lab, and essential medicines gaps existed in the current emergency care system in district hospitals." 

"Gaps in financing, protocols, blood bank, etc, also existed in the current emergency care system in district hospitals. Gaps also existed between pre-hospital care and definitive care services; proper linkage should be there. A major gap is the lack of academic emergency medicine departments at different healthcare facilities in India. All of these gaps were likely to compromise the provisions of quality emergency care. These findings point towards the implementation of a comprehensive programme of emergency care system reforms in India,"  the document added. 

The proposal to install cameras not only in public spaces but also in doctors’ chambers is expected to aid this timely assistance. The live feeds generated through these cameras can be monitored to provide timely assistance to anyone within the hospital premises. This is expected to significantly improve oversight of patient care as well as staff attendance and performance, sources said.

Why It Will Help 

• Improves accountability
• Response time 
• Service quality in hospitals
• The live footage will be monitored through a central control system
• Allows tracking attendance
• Monitoring patient flow
• Quick response to irregularities

Official sources clarified that the system isn't intended as a surveillance mechanism to police doctors, but rather to support better time management and transparency. 

This is also expected to aid government facilities in coping with delayed OPD openings, staff shortages, and slow emergency response. The Central government believes replicating the Bihar model across the country could help doctors become more responsive and patients receive timely care.

Additionally, by linking the CCTV feeds to hospital information systems, administrators can analyse patterns of delay or congestion. This data-driven approach would help identify bottlenecks in the registration, diagnostics, or consultation process. Ensuring better hospital patient flow management.

The system also provides an extra layer of security for both patients and medical staff.