Doctors attend first National Task Force debate on revamping working conditions

Hyderabad: A key discussion on ‘revamping the working conditions of healthcare professionals’ was held on Friday by the subcommittee of the National Task Force.
The main focus was reducing the working hours of junior doctors, which currently stand at 72 hours per week. Most participants in the first meeting proposed reducing the workday to 8 hours, down from the existing 10-hour shifts mandated by the national medical commission (NMC).

Experts also suggested doing away with the 24-hour shifts (once a week as per the rule), which extend up to 36 hours and occur twice a week instead of once. Around two and a half hours of the total three-hour meeting were spent on this topic. Many participants were of the opinion that working hours should be reduced to 52-58 per week.
Dr Kiran Madhala, a govt doctor from Telangana and a subcommittee member, proposed a 12-hour workday while completely eliminating 24-hour shifts.
He emphasized the need to create a specific policy for senior resident doctors.
“The workload on junior doctors is primarily due to insufficient support from senior residents, paramedics, and nurses in handling documentation. Involvement from assistant professors is also crucial to easing this burden. I recommended that policies for senior residents be based on hospital workload rather than the number of faculty members,” he said. Dr. Madhala explained that senior residents typically serve for one year before moving on to other opportunities, and in Telangana, there is a six-month gap before the next batch is available. He advocated for a continuous onboarding process for senior residents, similar to the model used by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Notably, this was the first time a govt doctor had participated in such a consultative committee meeting. The discussion also addressed workplace harassment of female junior doctors, postgraduates, and interns, focusing on the implementation of Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) policy and outlining measures to take in case of an incident.