lsquoDocs should have fixed working hrsrsquo

HC took note of the report prepared by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), a private body which falls under Quality Council of India (QCI). New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Tuesday emphasised the need to have fixed working hours for doctors and a standard for the doctor-patient ratio in hospitals, after a report found prominent government hospitals in the city to be overcrowded.Responding to the report, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar acknowledged that doctors have to work for excessive hours in absence of prescribed standard working hours. HC had earlier asked it to evaluate healthcare quality in three hospitals — AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and LNJP Hospital — in Delhi.The NABH, in its report placed before the bench, also highlighted the lack of integration of information technology programme between the out-patient departments (OPD) and laboratories leading to long queues for giving samples, collecting reports, visiting doctors and going to pharmacy for medication.The bench also directed the Centre and the Delhi government to inform it on the next date about the steps taken.