Have you ever had to do 24 hours, 36 hours, 48 hours or in some cases, even 72 hour duties at a stretch? Is that even allowed?

Have you ever had to do 24 hours, 36 hours, 48 hours or in some cases, even 72 hour duties at a stretch?

[1] Is this the correct system of work?
Absolutely not. There is no doubt that prolonged working without rest decreases efficiency and increases propensity to make errors. In the medical field, such errors can have dire consequences.

[2] Is it Legal? There must be laws to prevent such dangerous practices right? Wont Labour laws prohibit doctors being made to work so many hours at a stretch?
Well there aren’t any laws preventing this. The Labours laws and restriction on employee working hours do not apply to healthcare workers as it is deemed as a profession and not an industry/factory.

[3] Why is it common?
Several reasons are given. From being a sensitisation to the difficult career ahead to practise of working under stress.

[4] But the real reason is quite simple. There aren’t enough people for the work. Is that down only to insufficient MBBS, PG seats? Maybe not. But the culture, of only the junior most doctors - i.e interns and junior Post graduates being responsible most of the patient care means that there aren’t enough helping hands on deck.

[5] Cant we just increase the number of MBBS, PG seats?
Well yes. And that has been the direction we’ve moved to in the past decade. But it may not be as straight forward as we think.

[6] The increased MBBS,PG seats means there is an increased number of medical graduates, which saturates the job market for doctors. In metro cities there is a surplus of doctors, leading to very competitive, opportunistic, and desperate practices.

[7] Also, the widespread increase in seats, especially in centres with scarce clinical material, means there is a drop in the clinical exposure and first hand experience of trainees.

[8] Why is this problem restricted to India?
It is not restricted to India. Several developing countries face a similar situation. Developed countries like USA, UK and most European nations do not face this issue primarily due to a smaller population.

[9] What is going to happen ahead?
The trend of increasing MBBS, PG seats is going to continue. It will increase revenue for the investors in medical colleges, and eventually lead more graduates to explore tier-2 and tier-3 cities rather than flocking to metro cities which are saturated.

[10] Is that going to be enough?
Unlikely. There has to be a change in mentality and attitude. Seniors who have gone through these ordeals must recognise that providing better working conditions is more important for patient care, than ignoring it with the justification that they had it worse.

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