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aiimsNEW DELHI: Resident doctors at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here will be approaching the Union Health Ministry asking for their duty hours to be regulated. “AIIMS is a premier institute in terms of medical facilities and research and seeing the number of patients coming here, doctors are often working round-the-clock to accommodate them. This in turn leads to doctors being overworked and the long work hours reduces their efficiency putting them under undue stress. This isn't good for the patient either.


We will be submitting a letter to the Union Health Ministry on Friday asking them to ensure that guidelines are put in place to make sure that the working hours for doctors are regulated,” said AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association president Dr.Debjyoti Karmakar. “Work hour guidelines are an integral part of the work ethics in almost all the countries in the West and since AIIMS is a leading institute we are hoping that we lead the country in bringing in some guidelines for the doctors in this area. Of course in India with the heavy patient load it is not possible to have water-tight duty hours, however, some guidelines on the issue could be the first step forward in the area.

AIIMS could lead the way to giving doctors a basic framework of duty hours,” added Dr. Karmakar. This issue, however, isn't a new one and has been in discussion for over a year at AIIMS. “Most resident doctors in the various government hospitals spend long hours on duty and the condition is no different at AIIMS. With the guidelines being brought in at AIIMS we are hoping that the other hospitals too can follow the example and bring in regulate duty hours of the doctors,” said Dr. Karmakar.

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