Health Ministry Scrutinises Teaching Doctors’ Vacations at Delhi Medical Colleges

The Union Health Ministry has set up an expert committee to examine the vacation and leave arrangements of Central Health Service teaching doctors in Delhi’s government medical colleges. The panel held its first meeting on 31 August and has requested detailed records from Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, ABVIMS‑RML, and Lady Hardinge Medical College and its associated hospitals. A reminder issued on 28 September noted that the required information had not yet been received, and on 28 October RML Hospital instructed department heads to submit verified data within two days. The requested data include faculty strength, exact dates of summer and winter vacations, the number of doctors allowed to take leave simultaneously, and deployment of non‑teaching doctors and residents during those periods. Institutions must also provide monthly statistics on outpatient attendance, admissions, ICU occupancy and surgeries for the 2024‑25 and 2025‑26 periods. The committee will evaluate whether the current 50% faculty roster ensures uninterrupted patient care and whether vacations affect undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, examinations, research and academic administration. Sources have raised concerns that some doctors combine vacation with academic leave and child‑care leave, extending their absence, and that certain central government medical colleges may be subject to different vacation rules than AIIMS, PGI and UCMS. The ministry is also seeking information on outcomes from academic or on‑duty leave, such as research publications, grants, new projects, teaching initiatives and clinical skills acquired. No decision to reduce or cancel vacations has been announced; the committee is gathering data to assess the existing arrangements.