Speaking to EdexLive, a postgraduate resident from the Department of Paediatrics told EdexLive, on condition of anonymity, "The patient load is very high at Thanjavur Medical College while the number of residents working are comparatively less. Therefore, there is more workload and patient care demands extra work hours."
The PG resident doctor was speaking in connection to another PG resident Dr Thamizh Azhagan from the same department of the same college who was found dead in his room on the night of December 30, allegedly due to myocardial infarction or heart attack. It was reported that the medico was on continuous duty for over 24 hours. According to the students of the college, 26-year-old Dr Thamizh Azhagan was suffering from a severe headache and had taken permission to rest. However, later he was found dead in his duty room.
Speaking about his senior, Dr Thamizh, a junior and a house surgeon Vignesh Balasubramanian told EdexLive, "Dr Thamizh was on post-traumatic pain medication and he was suffering from mental health issues after he survived two accidents recently," he added.
One may wonder, how can a person with mental health issues be assigned long duty hours. Replying to this, Balasubramanian said that there was a state-level assessment happening in the college regarding the primary facilities available, therefore, Dr Thamizh was asked to attend college mandatorily. Balasubramanian adds that the administration has always been supportive when it came to Dr Thamizh's mental health and had permitted him to take leaves several times.
Balasubramanian worked closely with Dr Thamizh and shared that the latter was posted for a 12-hour duty shift in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). And speaking about the PG's workload, he said that weekly twice, the PG's duty hours ranged from 12 to 36 hours due to the submission of medical reports. Similarly, other PG students from the same department told EdexLive that although ICU work hours have been changed to six hours, they are unable to manage due to the heavy workload.
"We are more concerned about the care of newborns. One needs to monitor their health condition till their relieving time. Therefore, these duties demand more work hours which is stressful for us," said the PG doctor, adding that they find no time to eat either in the morning or at night. Additionally, "We leave the hospital late at night and at times, we are so occupied that we aren't able to answer calls either," the student said.
The death of Dr Thamizh again brings to light the work pressure and long duty hours of resident doctors. As reported earlier, Dr Keerthy Varman M, General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Resident Doctors Association (TNRDA) and former president of Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association (TNMSA) urges the government and medical board to address these concerns.
