Nobody Has Fixed a Number for Resident Doctor Duty Hours

Nobody has fixed a number for resident duty hours

The regulation gives no number at all

The postgraduate regulations of 2023 say only that a resident will work reasonable working hours and be given reasonable time for rest in a day. No figure appears in them.

A task force proposed seventy four hours

The National Medical Commission task force recommended in 2024 that residents work no more than 74 hours a week and no more than 24 hours at a stretch.

That is one duty and five shifts

The report sets out the arithmetic. One duty of 24 hours, then ten hour shifts on five days, then one day off. Added together that comes to 74 hours.

AIIMS uses an older, lower figure

An office memorandum of 21 August 2025 re-circulates the 1992 residency scheme at AIIMS New Delhi. Twelve hours of continuous duty, 48 hours a week, one weekly holiday.

Residents say the rules are not kept

In the 2024 task force survey 3,020 postgraduate students, more than half those who replied, said they get no weekly off. Another 1,123 reported working beyond 80 hours.

It reached the human rights commission

A complaint of March 2025 took resident hours to the National Human Rights Commission. In August 2026 the health ministry told Parliament the postgraduate board can act.

Want hours that are written in law?

Our guide to doctor working hours in Europe sets out the 48 hour average, how on call time counts towards it, and what the opt out lets a hospital ask.