"Why do we have 24 hours or 30 hours long shifts for doctors? It should be changed," said the Delhi High Court during a brief hearing of a PIL initiated by it after perusing a news report on the rise in violent attacks on doctors by attendants or relatives of patients. Referring to shortage of doctors, the court observed that in a country "blessed with human resource" the relatives of hospitalized patients need to lug around medicines and reports from one department to another in a hospital.
( Business Standard, April 25, 2018) As part of its directions, the court had asked the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) to assess the quality of health care and working conditions of medical professionals at three hospitals in the Delhi. It’s certainly appreciable that high court is concerned about long working hours of doctors. however, how can this situation change when there is…
