GB Pant hospital forms committee to probe inhumane duty hour allegations
New Delhi: After the letter of a concerned wife of a DM Cardiology first-year resident at GB Pant Hospital went viral and raised questions regarding the rules concerning the duty hours of resident doctors, the hospital has now decided to set up a committee to look into the matter.
Further, this Enquiry Committee will also examine the duty hour norms for the JRs, SRs, PGs, MCh/DMs.
"An Enquiry Committee has been constituted to look into the complaint in view of the Press Release regarding the Inhuman working norms at G.B. Pant Hospital. This Committee will look into the specific case of Dr. Amit Kumar, S.R. of the Cardiology Department. The Committee will also look into the working norms and duty hours of the Residents ( JR, SR, PGs, MCh/DM )students and will suggest to bring uniformity," the hospital mentioned in an order dated 25.10.2025.
The members of the committee include Dr. Sanjeev Sachdeva, HOD (Gastroenterology), as the Chairperson, and other members, including Dr. P.S Biswas, HOD (Psychiatry), Dr. Harpreet S. Minhas, Dir. Prof. & HOD (CTVS), Dr. Neera Chaudhary, HOD(Neuro), Dr. Gaurav Sharma, SR (Cardio), Dr. Bhanu Teja, SR (NeuroSurgery). The hospital has asked the committee to submit its report within 3 working days from the date of the order.
This comes after Dr. Rishu Sinha, the wife of a first-year DM Cardiology resident, Dr Amit Kumar, wrote to the Cardiology Department of GB Pant Hospital and asked to provide a cooling period and arrange counselling for her husband, who took the extreme step of resigning from a dream job- a superspeciality course of cardiology, primarily due to excessive work pressure and duty hours.
Medical Dialogues recently reported that in the letter addressed to the Cardiology Department, Dr. Sinha had mentioned, "My Husband, Dr. Amit Kumar, pursuing DM in Cardiology is suffering from sleep deprivation, burnout, exploitation and humiliation due to 36 hours continued duty causing mental and physical tiredness as well forced for minimal work not suitable for his course. Due to such toxicity and depression, he has submitted his resignation on 23.10.2025. The National Task Force Report 2024 is also concerned with the mental health problems of the medical students due to excessive working hours. Therefore, GB Pant Hospital shall must take responsibility of the outcome of the excessive duty hours and ensure wellness of the students."
In support of her claims regarding 36 hours of continuous duty, Dr. Sinha shared a copy of the duty roster of Dr. Kumar with the Medical Dialogues team.
She has asked the Department for a cooling period and proper counselling before accepting the resignation of her husband. "I am worried that if the resignation is accepted without his proper counselling, it may further harm his mental health. Therefore, I request to provide him humanly working hours duty for one month as cooling period and proper counselling before accepting his resignation. It may help him to come out from the trauma faced by him since joining the course," her letter mentioned.
Recently, expressing concern over the issue, the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) mentioned how such "pathetic and inhumane" working hours being imposed on resident doctors across institutions "only compromise their well-being but also affect the quality of healthcare delivery."
After this, the hospital has now set up a committee to conduct an inquiry into the matter. However, expressing her doubts regarding the committee, Dr. Sinha told Medical Dialogues, "Generally such committees are formed with members from other hospitals. If members are from the same hospital that has been accused of inhumane working hours, then the report may get compromised."
She also questioned the decision of the hospital to include a third-year student as a member of the committee. "The investigation should be done in a proper and unbiased way," she added.
Also Read: GB Pant 1st year DM Cardiology resignation exposes harsh realities of endless duties
