As many as 233 postgraduate doctors left their courses at 10 leading medical institutions in 2025, including campuses of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), according to data obtained through Right to Information (RTI) applications. The figures, compiled by the United Doctors Front (UDF), have renewed concerns over the working conditions of resident doctors, including extended duty hours, workplace harassment and inadequate institutional support.
The 10 institutions reported a combined 1,480 admissions against 233 departures in 2025. The data cover nine AIIMS campuses and JIPMER in Puducherry. However, the categories of students and the periods covered vary across institutions, and the figures do not establish why individual doctors left their programmes.
AIIMS Delhi reported 34 junior resident departures in 2025, compared with 60 in 2024. The number of new junior residents also fell from 324 to 267 during the same period. Anaesthesiology recorded the highest number of departures, at seven, followed by ophthalmology with six. Surgery and pathology reported three exits each.
JIPMER recorded 44 resignations across its January and July 2025 batches, down from 60 in 2024. The departures were reported across specialities including anaesthesiology, emergency medicine, orthopaedics, pathology and surgery.
Other AIIMS campuses also reported exits. AIIMS Gorakhpur recorded 19 departures among 51 residents from its 2025 batches, the highest proportion among the institutions with comparable batch-wise figures. AIIMS Nagpur reported 26 departures against 111 admissions, while AIIMS Jodhpur recorded 33 against 276. AIIMS Rishikesh reported 30 departures across its postgraduate and super-speciality programmes.
Dr Lakshya Mittal, chairperson of the United Doctors Front, said the figures reflected concerns raised by resident doctors about their working conditions. The organisation has called for stricter enforcement of duty-hour regulations, independent grievance-redressal mechanisms and greater accountability from medical institutions. It has also filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court seeking intervention in the matter.
“Residency is meant to train doctors, not break them. Discipline is not humiliation and dedication is not exploitation,” Dr Mittal told The Times of India.
The RTI applications also sought information on psychiatric counselling and work-related stress among residents. AIIMS Delhi said it did not maintain consolidated data on psychiatric counselling for resident doctors. AIIMS Rishikesh reported that six postgraduate students had received psychiatric counselling in 2026, but said it did not maintain consolidated records on work-related stress. AIIMS Raipur reported no resident doctors seeking psychiatric counselling in 2025 or 2026.
The concerns come amid continuing scrutiny of duty schedules in medical institutions. A 2024 report by the National Medical Commission's National Task Force on the mental health and well-being of medical students noted that excessive working hours can affect doctors' physical and mental health and compromise patient safety. It referred to existing government guidelines under the Residency Scheme, 1992, which generally prescribe a maximum of 12 hours of continuous active duty a day and 48 hours a week.
The task force recommended, subject to feasibility and available resources, a limit of 74 working hours a week and no more than 24 hours of continuous duty. It also recommended a weekly day off for residents.
In March 2026, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, in its report on the functioning of AIIMS Delhi, said the working hours of junior and senior residents should not exceed 12 hours at a stretch to prevent fatigue and help doctors attend to patients with due care.
JIPMER, meanwhile, has disputed the interpretation of earlier RTI figures on postgraduate resignations and mental health counselling. In a clarification issued on June 30, 2026, the institute said that around 20% of its postgraduate residents resign from allotted seats each year after securing an upgraded speciality or institution through subsequent rounds of national counselling. Some also clear NEET-PG examinations and leave to pursue another academic pathway.
The institute said it had introduced a 48-hour weekly work schedule for resident doctors, alongside orientation programmes, faculty mentorship and grievance-redressal mechanisms. It also cited its J-CARES initiative as part of its student mental health support system.
The variation in the RTI responses and the reasons cited by institutions, including seat upgrades and changes in academic pathways, make it important to examine individual cases and working conditions across campuses.