In a landmark development, the United Doctors' Front (UDF) has secured a key breakthrough in its ongoing efforts to reform the working conditions of resident doctors.
Following a crucial meeting with the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) today, Tuesday, April 22, the Centre has finally agreed to specify fixed duty hours, 48 hours per week, replacing the long-contested phrase "reasonable duty hours" in the Central Residency Scheme of 1992.
“This is a major step toward ensuring uniform working hours across all government and private medical colleges,” UDF said in an official statement.
Dr Lakshya Mittal, National President of UDF, told EdexLive that while these reforms have existed on paper since 1992, their implementation has been missing. “The issue is about accountability,” he said. “We asked them who is responsible for implementation. They said they cannot do it right away, so we suggested proper auditing every three or six months, and we’ve requested them to start that soon.”
Dr Mittal described the meeting as a “positive response” from the government. “It took a lot of effort to even open the talks on these rules. There was a lot of debate on the term ‘reasonable working hours’, and they accepted on the spot that it is wrong. They noted it down and agreed to change it,” he informed.
Among other key demands raised in the meeting were the public display of duty hour directives at all colleges and provision of five additional days of family or vacation leave annually, both of which were well received by DGHS.
In another welcome move, outdated allowances related to books, theses, and residency will now be revised to match current economic standards.
While DGHS has not yet fixed a date for the enforcement of clauses or punitive measures for non-compliance, further discussions are expected in the coming weeks. “They mentioned this is a complex process and might need two or three more meetings,” Dr Mittal added.
If implemented without delay, the changes could mark a historic shift in the lives of thousands of resident doctors across the country.
