Implementation of 8 hour shift system lacking for PG medicos in TN

CHENNAI: Despite the assurance by the Directorate of Medical Education to adhere to the eight hour shift system for the duty hours of PG medical students, the government doctors in the State have pointed out that there is no compliance and they have to often remain on duty for 24 hours.

In this regard, a plea was moved by the Doctor's Association for Social Equality secretary Dr G R Ravindranath in 2019 asking the Director of Medical Education to implement the 8 hour shift system based on an order in this regard on July 9, 2015, stating that the shift system was not in place. The scenario seems to remain unchanged as the government PG doctors continue to serve 24 hours and longer shifts.

The recent death of two Chennai doctors Dr Maruthu Pandian and Dr Solaisamy were found dead at their homes. Reportedly, both of them had a 24 hour shift a day before the day they passed away. Though the postmortem reports are awaited, the doctors associations have raised the issue of work overload and long shifts.

"The monitoring of the shift of the doctors needs to be done by the individual medical college hospitals. The long hours not only impact the physical health of the doctors, but it can also have a lot of morbidities. This affects the patient care as well because their productivity is affected and it can impact the medical care being provided in the hospital. The adherence to the shift systems and implementation of the guidelines to ensure that doctors are not overworked, " said Dr C Sundaresan, president of the Government All Doctor's Association.

Though the National Medical Commission has mandated that duty hours should not extend beyond 8 hours, but it is seldom followed. While there is a 24 hours duty, the doctors are also not given post duty off and they resume the normal ward duty for the next day. Doctors have raised the issue of non-implementation of the existing guidelines.

"Strict guidelines on working hours need to implemented by the government and implementation needs to be checked. The non-service PG staff can be deployed in their respective speciality in the government hospitals with a heavy work load and this would bring down the work load of the doctors. We are working on starting a helpline to address the issues of PG doctors, " said Dr V Vignesh Rajendran, president of the Tamil Nadu Resident Doctor Association.