Excess duty hours for resident doctors, caste discrimination: MoSJE urges Health Ministry's Intervention
Duty Hours
New Delhi: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has called for an urgent intervention from the Union Health Ministry to address excessive duty hours of resident doctors and alleged caste-based discrimination faced by postgraduate medical students from marginalized communities like SC, ST, OBC, EWS, and PwDs.
This comes after the Ministry of Social Justice received a representation submitted by the United Doctors Front (UDF) on 28.06.2025, in which the association sought an urgent intervention from the Ministry to address these issues.
Issuing an Office Memorandum on July 4, 2025, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) highlighted the ongoing plights of PG medical students.
As per the document, UDF informed the Ministry that despite existing government policies, the PG medical students continue to endure inhumane duty hours, often exceeding 36 hours at a stretch.
UDF also highlighted violations of the Uniform Central Residency Scheme (1992) and Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER) 2023, rampant caste-based discrimination, harassment, and mental health neglect, leading to suicide and dropouts, and a lack of implementation and monitoring by medical institutions and authorities, etc.
Noting that the issue falls under the purview of the Union Health Ministry, the Ministry of Social Justice requested the Health Ministry to examine the issue.
"Since the subject matter falls under the purview of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, it is requested to examine the representation for action as deemed appropriate, keeping in view the rights and entitlements ensured to Persons with Disabilities vide RPwD Act, 2016," it mentioned in the Office Memorandum dated 04.07.2025.
Speaking to Medical Dialogues regarding this development, Dr. Lakshya Mittal, the Chairperson and National President of UDF, welcomed the official acknowledgement and said, "This is a small but important step in ensuring justice and dignity for thousands of PG students from vulnerable backgrounds. We urge the Health Ministry & NMC to take immediate corrective action."
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that recently 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, the National President of UDF, Dr. Mittal had requested the National Medical Commission (NMC) and Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS) to investigate the issue and take strict disciplinary action.
Writing to the Director General (Health) of DGHS and the NMC Chairperson, Dr. Lakshya Mittal referred to the Uniform Residence Scheme of 1992 (dated 5 June 1992), and the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER) 2023, which mentioned that the woking hours for the junior residents should be "reasonable" and must include adequate rest periods, with an upper ceiling to prevent physical and mental exhaustion.
