High-ranking medical trainees are abandoning residency positions at elite facilities across India due to severe working conditions and toxic institutional cultures. The United Doctors Front has responded by filing a Supreme Court petition to force strict work-hour limits and independent grievance systems. However, premier hospitals have failed to track or maintain comprehensive records regarding staff mental health and counselling needs. Departures have notably affected crucial specialties such as surgery, ophthalmology, and anaesthesiology without official institutional explanations.
Key points
Extreme working conditions, including shifts exceeding 36 hours and persistent workplace…: Extreme working conditions, including shifts exceeding 36 hours and persistent workplace harassment, are driving resident doctors to leave premier institutes.
The United Doctors Front has approached the Supreme Court seeking mandatory working hour…: The United Doctors Front has approached the Supreme Court seeking mandatory working hour caps and institutional grievance mechanisms.
Premier medical institutions continue to operate without centralized records to monitor d…: Premier medical institutions continue to operate without centralized records to monitor depression, stress, or sleep deprivation among medical residents.
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NEW DELHI: Postgraduate doctors are walking away from residency programmes at some of India's leading medical institutions. RTI replies show exits across AIIMS campuses and JIPMER, with AIIMS Delhi alone reporting 34 junior resident departures in 2025.While several institutes lack consolidated data on psychiatric counselling or workplace stress among residents, Dr Lakshya Mittal, chairperson of United Doctors Front (UDF), said multiple RTI applications filed by its members had revealed postgraduate doctors quitting premier medical institutions despite securing top NEET-PG ranks. He cited complaints of duties extending beyond 36 hours, workplace harassment, toxic work culture and inadequate support.“Residency is meant to train doctors, not break them. Discipline is not humiliation and dedication is not exploitation,” Mittal said, urging authorities to enforce working-hour regulations, establish independent grievance-redressal mechanisms and fix institutional accountability. UDF has also filed a PIL in the Supreme Court.However, the figures from individual institutions show that departures have continued, even as some reported a decline.
At AIIMS Delhi, 34 junior resident doctors quit in 2025, compared with 60 in 2024, a decline of about 43%. The number of residents…
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