New NMC norms mandate reasonable work hours for resident doctors, but don’t say what’s ‘reasonable’

New NMC norms mandate reasonable work hours for resident doctors, but don’t say what’s ‘reasonable’

The fresh regulations were meant to address issues like work stress. Federation of Resident Doctors Association says several of their demands ignored, plan to appeal to health ministry.

SUMI SUKANYA DUTTA

04 January, 2024 06:02 pm IST

New Delhi: The new Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER) state that medical institutions should allow resident doctors to work only for “reasonable” hours and rest for “reasonable time” in a day, without specifying what “reasonable” means.

The PGMER 2023 was notified by the National Medical Commission (NMC) on Monday and published Wednesday.

The new regulations, which have replaced the Postgraduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2018, have for the first time also stipulated a leave policy for residents, which entitles them to 20 casual leaves, apart from five academic leaves every year.

The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) — India largest network of resident doctors — expressed displeasure over the NMC’s failure to define working hours for PG doctors. It also criticised the leave policy, saying that the number of leaves mentioned in the regulations is less than what was sought. FORDA plans to appeal to the Union health ministry as well as the NMC to get the norms amended.

“For the last two years, we have been petitioning the government and the NMC to incorporate our demands related to working hours, leaves, stipend and working conditions. It is disappointing that very few of those have been incorporated in the new regulations despite assurances,” FORDA president Dr Aviral Mathur told ThePrint.

The association, in its representations to the ministry and NMC, has been demanding that resident doctors not be made to work beyond 60 hours a week and be given at least 30 leaves every year apart from fixed weekly offs.

They are currently given 20 leaves per year at most institutions. Resident doctors claim that on several occasions, they are made to work 24 hours and even 48 hours at a stretch, which leads to excessive work-related burnout. Moreover, in departments such as surgery, emergency, medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, which have the highest patient load in most government hospitals, the situation is particularly bad.

Doctors say that in many cases, hospitals deny weekly offs to residents while asking them to be on round-the-clock duty for up to five days a week.

FORDA has also expressed concern over the fact that its demand to make the proposed National Exit Test (NExT) — which will replace final year exams for MBBS students and entrance tests for post-graduate courses — only a licentiate examination and not a qualifying test, has been ignored.

“The new norms just mention NExT but don’t clarify what all purposes it will solve, leaving the provision vague and confusing,” Mathur said.

The regulations state that “an all-India merit list as well as a state-wise merit list of the eligible candidates shall be prepared based on the marks obtained in NExT or NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test)-PG and candidates shall be admitted to post-graduate courses from the said merit lists only”.

ThePrint reached NMC spokesperson Dr Yogender Malik over phone. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.