Bengal govt to introduce colour-coded ID cards for staff at state-run hospitals

The West Bengal government is introducing colour-coded identity cards for hospital staff to prevent unauthorised entry of middlemen and strengthen monitoring inside state-run hospitals.

The West Bengal government is set to introduce colour-coded identity cards for employees at all state-run hospitals as part of a move aimed at preventing unauthorised entry of middlemen inside medical establishments, a senior official said on Monday.

Referring to a directive by the health department, the official said separate identity cards with distinct colours have been assigned to different categories of hospital staff, including doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, administrative personnel, security guards and Group D employees.

He said laboratory staff will receive orange cards, assistant professors purple, administrative staff black, nurses brown, security personnel maroon and Group D staff green identity cards.

Sanitation workers will be issued yellow cards, while outsourced employees will carry blue ID cards.

A senior health department official said the initiative was introduced to strengthen monitoring inside government hospitals and ensure that only authorised personnel are allowed entry into restricted areas.

''The objective is to streamline access control inside hospitals and prevent infiltration by unauthorised persons or touts. Every employee will have to carry the designated identity card while on duty,'' the official said.

The circular has been sent to all major state-run hospitals, including SSKM Hospital, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, NRS Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, National Medical College and Shambhunath Pandit Hospital, among others.

As part of the exercise, each hospital building will have a designated nodal officer responsible for supervising and coordinating the implementation of the project, the health department official said.

Hospital authorities have also been directed to arrange high-speed broadband connectivity and office infrastructure for the smooth execution of the programme.

Technical personnel from Webel will be deployed to address any technology-related issues during the registration process.

Registration for the new identity cards is scheduled to begin today (May 25) and is expected to be completed by May 28, he said.

''To avoid overcrowding during registration, hospitals have been asked to arrange volunteers for crowd management and assistance,'' the official said.

The staff members have been categorised under multiple groups, including doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, medical technologists, administrative employees, general duty assistants and drivers, the official added.