LONG DUTY 24 HRS  OR MORE OF DOCTORS MUST BE CHANGED-DELHI HIGH COURT,WILL GOVT LISTEN?

 prof .DRRAM,HIV /AIDS,HEPATITIS ,SEX DISEASES & WEAKNESS expert,New Delhi,India, profdrram@gmail.com,+917838059592,+919832025033,ON WHATSAPP

The Delhi High Court today questioned the need for doctors to be on duty for 24 hours or more and said that it should be changed.Referring to the shortage of medical professionals, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar observed that in a country "blessed with human resource" the relatives of hospitalised patients need to lug around medicines and reports from one department to another in a hospital.

"Why do we have 24 hour or 30 hour long shifts for doctors? It should be changed," the court said.

The bench made the observations during a brief hearing of a PIL initiated by it after perusing a news report on the rise in violent attacks on doctors by attendants or relatives of patients.The court from time to time, through the plea, has been issuing directions for ensuring safety and security of doctors and other medical staff.

As part of its directions, the court had asked the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), a body under the Quality Council of India (QCI), to assess the quality of health care and working conditions of medical professionals at three hospitals in the national capital.The hospitals to be inspected were All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Safdarjung Hospital and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan. NABH was submitting it's report.

            Same bench in march18  took delf notice of attack on resident doctors at LNGP hospital of delhi and warned Central and Delhi Government of contempt of court if adequate security and safety to  Doctors is not provided and they are attacked by mobs or relatives in future.

           In year 2013,Ministry of health and family welfare, Government of India sent consolidated instructions to all states and UT administration vide letter number S-11014 /3/91 ME(P) regarding implementation of Uniform Central Residency Scheme after the directives of the Supreme Court in its judgment dt. 25.9.87 in writ petition No. 348-352 of 1985, The instruction No.13 of this letter ‘Hours of Work’, it is mentioned that
           “Continuous active duty for resident doctors will not normally exceed 12 hours per day. Subject to exigencies of work the resident doctors will be allowed one weekly holiday by rotation. The resident doctors will also require to be on call duty not exceeding 12 hours at a time. 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 as may be decided by the Medical Superintendents concerned keeping in view the workload and availability of doctors for clinical work.”
         As we see, here total weekly hours of work (48 hrs/week) as well as the maximum hours in single stretch (12 hours) are clearly defined. Of course the authorities may remind us the flexibility given in above instruction. However such orders are kept aside at many places DOCTORS DOING PG OR SUPER SPECAILITY AS MD /MS OR DNB are compelled to work more than 24 hrs mostly at a strech and they are provided very few leaves but they as bonded labors accept it for a degree.

               will as a doctor protest against this and bound Government of centre and different states to implement it sothat any government or private medical college or hospital donot violet it .