Nearly 74 percent Medicos in India under excessive clerical workload: Survey

New Delhi: The recent survey conducted across medical colleges throughout India has revealed that an alarming 73.9 percent of doctors are doing non-medical work as they have reported facing an excessive clerical workload.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the extensive survey, conducted by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), received over 2,000 responses from medical students, teachers, and professors across 28 states and Union Territories, and the findings highlighted significant shortcomings in infrastructure, faculty availability, and the quality of training in newly established medical institutions.

The analysis of the survey responses highlighted significant challenges affecting both education and the mental well-being of students.

As per the survey data, only 71.5% of respondents reported adequate patient exposure, 54.3% confirmed regular teaching sessions, and 69.2% found laboratory and equipment facilities satisfactory. Faculty adequacy stood at 68.8%, while just 44.1% reported the presence of functional skills labs. Timely stipend payments were received by only half of the respondents, and a mere 29.5% experienced fixed working hours, indicating a lack of structural and administrative discipline.

Alarmingly, 73.9% of the respondents reported excessive clerical workload, while 55.2% cited staff shortages, and 40.8% described their work environment as toxic.

Such an alarming number raises concerns regarding the quality of medical education being offered by the medical colleges across the country. Medical students, who work at the medical college hospitals either as medical interns or resident doctors as part of their MBBS or postgraduate training, respectively, have to spend a significant amount of time doing such non-medical work.

Earlier this year, aiming to address the operational challenges and improve patient services, Delhi’s Health Minister, Pankaj Singh, had called for detailed reports from all government hospitals. The Minister had directed that the reports should include data on staffing levels, the number of personnel in each role, and information about staff managing multiple facilities.

Also Read: Delhi Health Minister Seeks Report on Staff Shortage at Govt Hospitals

"Doctors are meant to save lives, not push stretchers or claim insurance":

Explaining the situation faced by medical students, the President of Tamil Nadu Resident Doctors Association (TNRDA) and Co-Chairman of FAIMA, Dr. V Vignesh Rajendran, told Medical Dialogues, "It is very true that resident doctors in India are exploited mercilessly to do scut work and clerical work. The Recent FAIMA RMS survey emphatically hammers home this point. About 74% feel so."

Highlighting the types of work the resident doctors and interns have to do, he added, "Doctors are forced to do the insurance work, scheme-related works, filling registers, and non-essential documents. During times of NMC inspection, this unnecessary clerical work delegated to Doctors multiplies exponentially. Resident doctors in busy centres are also forced to push stretchers, shift patients for imaging/ surgery, and do the work of ward boys. Medical Interns in India are usually assigned the monotonous job of shifting patients between departments or collecting lab results."

The doctor further pointed out how such unnecessary workload burdens the already burdened doctors even more. Dr. Rajendran added, "Doctors are meant to save lives, not push stretchers or claim insurance."

Lack of Adequate Staff to Blame?

Meanwhile, the National President of FAIMA, Dr. Akshay Dongardive, opined that this kind of work culture highlights that an adequate number of support staff are not available in the healthcare system.

Explaining how this directly impacts the quality of medical education being provided to medical students, he added, "It is deeply concerning, though not surprising, that 74% of doctors are engaged in non-medical and clerical responsibilities. Doctors are trained to diagnose, manage patients and lead clinical decision-making. When they are diverted to administrative or paperwork-related tasks, the core purpose of medical care gets compromised. This work culture indicates a lack of adequately trained support staff in the healthcare system. It reduces productivity, increases mental fatigue and contributes to burnout among doctors. Most importantly, it takes away valuable time that could otherwise be spent on patient care."

Calling for strong administrative support and task-sharing mechanisms, he added, "For any healthcare system to function efficiently, doctors must be allowed to focus exclusively on their clinical and academic roles. Strengthening administrative support and task-sharing mechanisms is essential. If we aspire toward improved patient outcomes and a stronger public health system, we must ensure that doctors are enabled to do what they are trained for — treating and healing people."