Resident Doctors’ Long Working Hours Raise Mental Health and Patient Safety Concerns

Long working hours and inadequate rest are raising renewed concerns about the mental health and well-being of resident doctors in India.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has told the Supreme Court that long and repeated duty hours are contributing to psychological distress and mental-health problems among postgraduate resident doctors. The commission stressed that reasonable working hours and adequate rest are important for both doctors' well-being and patient safety.

For India's resident doctors, exhaustion has increasingly become more than a workplace complaint—it is being recognised as a mental-health and patient-safety concern.

Resident Doctors’ Long Working Hours and Patient Safety

In an affidavit before the Supreme Court, the National Medical Commission acknowledged that long and repeated duty hours can contribute to psychological distress and mental-health problems among

postgraduate medical students. The NMC stressed the need for reasonable working hours and adequate rest. 

The issue is particularly significant because resident doctors often combine clinical responsibilities with postgraduate education and training. Extended shifts and inadequate recovery time can contribute to fatigue, stress and burnout, potentially affecting both the doctors themselves and the quality of patient care.

Rest, Mental Health and Patient Safety

Resident doctors balance demanding clinical responsibilities with postgraduate education and training.

The Union Health Ministry has also reiterated that postgraduate residents should have reasonable working hours, adequate daily rest and a weekly day off under the existing postgraduate medical education regulations. 

The renewed attention places an important question before India's healthcare system: Can patient care remain safe when the people providing it are chronically exhausted?

Mental-health experts and doctors' organisations have long called for stronger institutional support, better working conditions and accessible psychological services for medical professionals.

The conversation is therefore shifting from treating exhaustion as an unavoidable part of medical training to recognising rest and psychological well-being as essential components of a functioning healthcare system.