Resident doctors: When are they coming?

BY V L Srinivasan Published on March, 10, 2006 Hyderabad: The proposal to introduce ‘Residency System’ for postgraduate students of medical and dental colleges to monitor round-the-clock patient care appears to be a non-starter. In the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, where the Residency System is in vogue, the residents work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The outpatient wing functions from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a break for one hour. The tenure of the Residency System is for three years. Government hospitals other than NIMS are currently working between 9 a.m and 2 p.m. Switch over to the new system entails the State Government provision of funds for construction of quarters in all hospitals so that doctors are available all 24 hours. According to official sources, the State Government has decided to introduce the Residency System as part of the agreement reached with junior doctors in 2002. When junior doctors went on strike in July 2004, the Rajasekhara Reddy Government, which assumed power three months before, assured that the process would be initiated within one month. When nothing materialised, the junior doctors approached the High Court which directed the Government, on August 23 last year, to introduce the system in three hospitals within six months and extend it to other institutions in a phased manner. Though the deadline expired nearly a fortnight ago, the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), which is the implementing authority, received no instructions from the Government seeking proposals to identify the three hospitals in the first phase. At present, there are 810 PG students in dental and medical colleges and the Government will incur an expenditure of Rs 44 crore to introduce the system in the State. While Rs 9 crore is required for the nine medical colleges for constructing hostels for junior and senior residents, another Rs 50 lakh is needed for the lone dental college as non recurring expenditure. As far as stipend is concerned, each of the 810 PG students have to be paid Rs 15,000 per month which comes to around Rs 43.74 crore. ‘‘The Government has been providing Rs 20 crore towards stipends for PG students every year but require another Rs 24 crore to fulfil the commitment,’’ the officials told Express. Sore with the inordinate delay in fulfilling its assurance, the Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors Association is now planning to file a contempt petition against the Government in the High Court. ‘‘We are consulting legal experts and will take a decision soon,’’ association president Ch Pradip Kumar said.