Himachal Pradesh: Resident doctors to work for 12 hours

Shimla: Amid the widespread protest by doctors over the brutal rape and murder of a PG medico at RG Kar Medical College, the Himachal Pradesh Health Department has declared that the resident doctors at all government medical colleges across the state will work for 12 hours a day including on-call duties.

Assuring that the doctors would no longer have to work overtime, the state health department issued an order to the Director of Medical Education and Research, in this regard.

The order issued on August 21 mentioned “The matter was examined at the government level and it was decided the duty hours of resident doctors must not exceed 12 hours per day, including the on-call duty."

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This comes in response to the long-standing demands of resident doctors who have been complaining about working for 24 to 36 hours nonstop which hampered their mental health leading to distress due to continuous workload.

During the protest aimed primarily at seeking justice for the deceased PG doctor, the resident doctors from most of the medical colleges also raised their voices for their unstable working hours and the need for a centralised law for medical professional security including installation of CCTV and more.

Following this, the Himachal Pradesh government issued a new directive in this regard. The order mandates that the principals of these medical colleges adjust the duty rosters to reflect the new guidelines. Additionally, the colleges are required to submit a compliance report to the government within a week, as reported by The News Himachal report.

Apart from this, the order also mentioned that the shift of resident doctors will end before 7:00 pm considering their security amid the circumstances in the nation following the brutal death of PG trainee doctors at RG Kar Hospital.

This new directive will bring major relief to resident doctors of government medical colleges across the state and dental medical colleges as well.

Commenting on this, a resident doctor told the Daily, “This system was centuries old, and changing it will bring much-needed relief. The mental burden due to excessive work will also be significantly reduced.”

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the half-naked body of the deceased RG Kar PG Respiratory Medicine medico was recovered from the seminar hall of the hospital on Friday morning. A preliminary autopsy report has indicated sexual abuse before she was killed.

As per the inquest report, there was bleeding from the doctor's eyes and mouth, injury on the face and nails, bleeding from her genitals, and several other injury marks on different parts of her body. Soon after the news of this horrific incident came to light, doctors in Bengal and across the country started a massive protest demanding justice.

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