Electronic Monitoring Bracelets for Doctors in Romania

Electronic bracelets for doctors. It seems irrational, right? You would’ve expected this sort of device to be used only for convicted criminals, right?

Well…they aren’t. In Romania, a country where the absurd looks very normal in some circumstances, local authorities introduced electronic bracelets for doctors. It happens at the Municipal Hospital of Timisoara, a center where doctors are monitored with electronic bracelets equipped with GPS to detect the movement of the tracked individuals within the premises.

The management of the hospital justifies the decision by saying it is because of the medical personnel itself, as they do not treat the patients as well as they should.

The system monitors and counts how many times the medical personnel checks the health status of the patients, by visiting the saloons. Also, it monitors if the doctors are at work during the working hours, as many of them also have part-time jobs in private clinics.

The cost of the system is 6,000 EUR a month for the three units it monitors, but the management wants to extend it to all the 24 units of the hospital.

The European GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation doesn’t offer employers the possibility to monitor their employees, even with the employees’ written consent. This is considered to be a wrongful practice and it was sentenced by the Romanian courts. The GDPR watchdog in Romania is expected to investigate the case and take appropriate measures.