Srinagar, Aug 17: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has informed Parliament that the National Medical Commission (NMC) has the power to take action against medical colleges and institutions violating reasonable working hour rules.
The statement came in a written reply by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel in the Lok Sabha.
In response to questions linked to a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) case and reports of excessive duty hours, Patel said under the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER), 2023, NMC can take action against the medical colleges not adhering to work and rest hour rules.
In her reply, the Minister stated: “Case No 441/90/0/2025 of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was referred to Ministry to submit the action taken report on a complaint dated March 17, 2025.”
The matter was examined in the Ministry in consultation with National Medical Commission (NMC) and submitted the report to NHRC.
It was stated that as per regulation 5.2 (ii) of the PGMER, 2023, “All post-graduate students will work as full time resident doctors. They will work for reasonable working hours and will be provided reasonable time for rest in a day.”
The NMC is empowered to take action against the concerned medical college or institution, as per specified under Regulation 9.2 of the PGMER, 2023.
Patel has also clarified the constitutional position, stating that public health and hospitals is a state subject and that the respective state governments or UT administrations prescribe norms for doctors’ working hours.
They are also responsible for setting service conditions and the duty rosters in the concerned institutions.
The parliamentary response also addressed the situation at R G Kar Medical College, Kolkata.
The minister said, “The incident at R G Kar Medical College, West Bengal was taken up by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in SMW (Crl) No 2 of 2024, wherein the court had constituted a National Task Force (NTF) to formulate recommendations for redressal of the issues regarding safety, well-being and working conditions of medical professionals. The report of NTF had been submitted to the court in November 2024.”
She said that the NMC Anti-Ragging Committee had met on August 14, 2024, to discuss the various aspects of safety and working conditions of medical students and resident doctors.
As an immediate step, the NMC issued an Advisory dated August 13, 2024, to all medical colleges and institutions.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Directorate General of Health Services had also directed all Central Government hospitals and institutes, includinbg AIIMS to ensure filing of institutional FIRs within a maximum of six hours in cases of violence against doctors and healthcare personnel.
Advisories had also been issued to states and UTs on August 23, 2024, and September 3, 2024, urging a ramp-up of security to medicos, and safer working environments, especially females.
The minister’s reply is significant in view of the rising incidents of persistent complaints that postgraduate residents in several medical colleges.
The medicos have alleged that they are being made to work 80-100 hours a week.
This is far beyond what many consider reasonable.
A Public Interest Litigation filed by the United Doctors’ Front in the Supreme Court seeks enforcement of the Ministry’s own 1992 directive limiting resident doctors’ duty to 12 hours a day, and not more than 48 hours a week.
The petition had cited the National Task Force report on the mental health of medical students.
It recorded over 150 suicides in 5 years. These, as per the PIL were largely linked to work-related stress and sleep deprivation.
The Supreme Court had recently adjourned the hearing after the Centre’s counter-affidavit was not placed on record.
The case is listed for 17 September.
In J&K, resident doctors at Government Medical College Jammu, Government Medical College Srinagar and other medical colleges have welcomed the ministry’s clear restatement.
Several postgraduate students described the minister’s written reply as an important official acknowledgment.
“Reasonable working hours” and “reasonable time for rest”, they said, are obligations on the institutions, they said.
A resident from GMC Srinagar said, “We welcome this statement. What we need now is a transparent, independent audit of actual duty hours, duty rosters and rest periods across all medical colleges in J&K. Only an audit will show how far the ground reality has drifted from the regulations.”
He urged both the NMC and the J&K Health and Medical Education Department must invoke the penal provisions under Regulations 9.1 and 9.2 of the PGMER, 2023 against non-complying institutions.
