12 hours a day, 48 hours a week- AIIMS fixes duty hours of resident doctors
Duty Hours
New Delhi: The resident doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, will get one weekly holiday by rotation, and their duty hours will not normally exceed 12 hours per day.
Issuing an Office Memorandum in this regard on 21.08.2025, the institute discussed the duty/working hours of resident doctors at AIIMS, New Delhi. The OM was issued in continuation of the office memorandum dated 03.10.2017 and 06.10.2020, respectively, on this subject.
Re-emphasising the guidelines with respect to the duties/working hours of resident hours, AIIMS issued the following guidelines under the Government of India residency scheme:
1. Continuous active duty for resident doctors will not normally exceed 12 hours per day, Subject to the exigencies of work, the resident doctors will be allowed one weekly holiday by rotation. The resident doctor will also be required to be on call duty not exceeding 12 hours at a time.
2. The Junior residents should ordinarily work for 48 hours per week and not more than 12 hours at a stretch, subject to the condition that the working hours will be flexible, keeping in view the workload and availability of doctors for clinical work.
"All Chiefs of Centers (CoCs) and Heads of Departments (HoDs) are hereby advised to follow the Guidelines of Government of India Residency scheme and maintain statistics of duty hours for the resident doctors. These statistics should be shared with the Academic Section as and when required. This issues with the approval of the Competent Authority," the OM issued by AIIMS further mentioned.
These directives issued by AIIMS follow the PIL, filed by the the doctors under the United Doctors' Front (UDF), in the Supreme Court against the "inhumane working hours of resident doctors". The association has challenged the "exploitative and unconstitutional working conditions imposed on resident doctors across the country".
The plea, filed through Advocates Mr. Satyam Singh, and Ms. Neema AOR, has sought urgent intervention from the Apex Court to enforce compliance with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's 1992 directives notification, which mandates that resident doctors should not work more than 12 hours per day and 48 hours per week.
Earlier, highlighting violations of duty hours regulations for resident doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar, Bibinagar and Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune, UDG had urged the National Medical Commission (NMC) and Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS) to investigate the issue and take strict disciplinary action.
To view the notice, click on the link below:
