| Junior docs made to work for 36-48 hours | | Many suffer stress, mental agony | | Nitesh Sangral
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 22: Putting their own lives to risk, junior doctors of the Government Medical College and its associated hospitals have to work for 36 to 48 hours at a stretch in the absence of senior doctors, but surprisingly the concerned authorities are in deep slumber.
"The Supreme Court of India, as well as Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, had issued instructions to all states and UT administration regarding implementation of Uniform Central Residency Scheme with instruction number 13 of the letter 'hours of work', stating that -Continuous active duty for resident doctors will not normally exceed 12 hours per day, " a junior doctor, seeking anonymity told.
The doctor further told that the junior doctors of GMC Jammu, as well as Srinagar, have got used to this hectic schedule in the absence of senior doctors in the hospitals. Senior consultants or teaching professors are usually never on duty during Emergency hours in government hospitals. After 4 or 5 pm, Emergencies, Emergency operation theatres, and wards, often overcrowded with the patients, are left entirely to the junior doctors.
"Rules say consultants must report to hospitals in grave emergencies, but seldom is a senior consultant seen in a hospital after midnight. In private hospitals, consultants are on duty in ICUs and surgical wards through the night then why not in the government hospitals?" he asked, adding that despite knowing that medical studies found that junior doctors put their patients', and their own, lives at risk with increased chances of medical mistakes.
Another doctor said that prolonged duty is not only killing young doctors but also demotivating them to serve in government hospitals in future. "A number of my colleagues Including me who will not wish to work in GMC Jammu or its associated hospitals after seeing the system" ,the doctor rued. |
|
