Facial authentication mandated for faculty attendance in medical colleges

The National Medical Commission (NMC) instructed all medical colleges and institutions to transition to face-based Aadhaar authentication for attendance of faculty members from May 1.

The decision was taken last year after cases of fake thumb impressions were being used by ‘ghost’ faculties to fulfil the NMC’s criteria of 75 per cent attendance were reported from medical colleges.

The face-based Aadhaar authentication with Unique Identification Authority of India-registered devices (UIDAI RD) is currently in use in various government offices.

The medical colleges have been asked to share GPS location of different points in the college with the NMC. “Attendance can be marked within 100 meter radius of a given GPS location in the college. All colleges will have to share GPS locations,” the NMC order said.

All faculties in the medical colleges are required to install face-based Aadhaar authentication app on their mobile devices.

It shall be activated from April 24. If a college faces any technical difficulty, they should bring it to the notice of the technical team before April 30, the NMC added.

“From May 1, marking attendance on NMC AEBAS vide finger authentication device will be discontinued and only the face biometric authentication will be permitted,” the order said.

India