Last year, the Bombay High Court had ordered to the government and civic-run hospitals and medical colleges to fix working hours for resident doctors and submit the report to the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, Mumbai and state government. According to the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), who had filed a petition in the high court, only one medical college and hospitals have submitted their report. Both the medical colleges are from the rural district area. None of the Mumbai-based medical colleges and hospitals submitted their report. The resident doctors' association feels that the administrative departments of various medical colleges fail to help them with fix working hours due to which they are overloaded with work for more than 24 to 48 hours. This leads to a mental health issue. While the next hearing on the same is scheduled on June 25, the resident doctors' association are hoping to get a decision on fixed working hours to reduce the workload. Vishal Ralh, resident doctor and ex-member of Central MARD, said, "Last year in the month of August, the Bombay High court had ordered BMC and government to decide the roles and responsibilities of senior to junior doctors in order to have a work division. Eight to nine hours of duty per day was supposed to be fixed. While the reply was supposed to be submitted within three to four months, in many colleges there have been no steps taken to fix the working hours. The Deas of various medical colleges and hospitals had to submit their report to DMER. Government medical college from Akola, only one peripheral hospital has submitted their working hours' plan." According to the resident doctors, the issue has been raised in various 'all deans meeting' which is held every month through video conference. "We have got no response. In many medical colleges and hospital, the basic process has not yet started. The administrative authority gives no reply on the matter," a resident doctor said. Due to workload, the junior resident doctors face a lot of mental health issues. "Long duty hours causes burnout. Due to the overload of work, the resident doctors suffer from depression and other mental health issues." Ongoing Issue According to the resident doctors, the issue has been raised in various ‘all deans meeting’ which is held every month through video conference. Due to workload, the junior resident doctors face a lot of mental health issues.

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