Madras High Court directs DME to ensure only 8-hour duty for PG doctors, UG interns

Observing that merely because government hospitals and medical colleges may not be appropriately or adequately staffed, it will not entail that post-graduate medical students or under-graduate interns would be subjected to additional hours, the Madras High Court has sought the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) to monitor the situation on a continuous basis and ensure that they serve only the prescribed 8-hours.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu made the observation while disposing a plea which sought the strict implementation of a notification of July 9, 2015 issued by the DME to provide for eight hours duty per day on shift basis to post-graduate medical students and under-graduate compulsory rotatory residential internship candidates at State hospitals and medical colleges.

The bench in its order also held, “There is no doubt that the provisions of the notification may have been breached during the emergency situation that arose both during the first surge of the pandemic and the deadlier second wave.” “However, the official respondents, say that from or about February, 2021 there has been no violation and committees have been set up for individual complaints to be lodged before such committees in case a particular student has had to devote more than eight hours per day,” the bench recorded while noting that in the light of the above, the petition appears to have served its purpose.

The petitioner Dr GRRavindranath, while seeking to provide eight hours duty with shift system to the post graduate medical students and UG CRRI candidates in all medical colleges and hospitals also sought to appoint high power committee to ensure continuous implementation of the eight hours duty and shift system and ensure no non-medical duty is imposed on Post graduate and UG-CRRI candidates.