Behind the elite arc of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) lies a chilling reality: a system buckling under a crisis of student suicides, mass resignations and profound institutional indifference. New Delhi Post investigations and Right to Information (RTI) disclosures reveal an environment where distress is normalised, vulnerability is punished, and coveted careers are being abandoned in droves.
The statistics surrounding medical student suicides present a chilling portrait of a system failing its most precious resources. In just the first seven months of 2025, approximately 30 medical students died by suicide across India, a figure that represents more than double the earlier annual average. This alarming spike follows a troubling five-year trend documented by the National Medical Commission (NMC), which recorded 122 medical student suicides between 2018 and 2022, averaging nearly 25 deaths per year. Among these, 64 were MBBS students and 58 were postgraduate trainees, indicating that the pressure affects students at all levels of medical education.
These numbers, however grim, only tell part of the story. The 2024 report of the National Task Force (NTF) constituted by the NMC to examine suicides and mental health distress among medical students revealed even more concerning data. In a study of 787 medical students, the report found that 37 per cent reported suicidal thoughts, 11 per cent had planned suicide, 7 per cent assessed future suicidal risk and 19.6 per cent exhibited suicidal behaviour. The report explicitly linked these findings to “high stress, burnout, and depression” experienced by medical students, significantly elevating suicide risk.
At the institutional level, the psychological toll is becoming increasingly visible. Information provided to an activist, Swami Das, by JIPMER, Puducherry, in October 2025, showed that 118 postgraduate students sought psychiatric counselling over three years. Of these, 29 cited workplace-related issues, specifically excessive work pressure, conflicts with seniors, academic stress and disputes with faculty over thesis work.
Another telling story is mass attrition. Despite the extreme scarcity and tremendous cost of postgraduate medical positions, with private medical education costing between ₹50 lakh and ₹3 crore, students are walking away in unprecedented numbers, often facing crippling financial penalties ranging from ₹10 lakh to ₹50 lakh for early withdrawal.
The scale of this exodus is documented through multiple RTI findings that reveal a systemic pattern of attrition across premier institutions. An RTI filed by Dr Vivek Pandey revealed that 1,117 postgraduate medical students dropped out between 2018 and 2022 nationwide. This trend is reflected at individual institutions with alarming consistency:
- 79 junior residents resigned from AIIMS Delhi between January and September 2025 alone (47 academic and 32 non-academic residents)
- 276 postgraduate students dropped out of JIPMER, Puducherry between 2020 and 2024
- 178 from AIIMS Bhopal during the same period
- 64 from Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi
- 31 from AIIMS Gorakhpur
- 22 from AIIMS Mangalagiri
- 24 from NIMHANS, Bengaluru over five years
These resignations occurred within remarkably short timeframes, underscoring the urgency and scale of the problem. RTI responses from JIPMER and NIMHANS confirmed that students specifically cited “professional reasons” for leaving their programmes, a bureaucratic euphemism that masks the brutal working conditions.
What makes this mass departure particularly significant is the context: Highly accomplished individuals are abandoning hard-won careers. Choosing financial and professional devastation reveals just how intolerable the working conditions have become.
A consistent thread running through both the suicide crisis and the mass resignations is the issue of excessive working hours that far exceed legally mandated limits. While India formally adopted regulations limiting resident doctors’ working hours as early as 1992, following judicial interventions that recognised the dangers of excessive medical workloads, these rules exist primarily on paper.
The Residency Scheme Directive issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 1992, following Supreme Court directions, clearly mandates that postgraduate medical students work no more than 48 hours per week, with a maximum of 12 hours per shift. On August 21, 2025, AIIMS reiterated this framework through an internal order, restating the 48-hour weekly norm and limiting extended shifts. In practice, however, RTI responses reveal these norms are routinely and flagrantly violated.
At AIIMS Nagpur, an RTI response dated October 16, 2025, from Dr Meenakshi Girish, head of the paediatrics department, reported that residents logged 540 hours per month in August and September 2025. This simply means a staggering 135-hour workweek—triple the legal limit—paired with 15 marathon shifts over 24 hours in a month.Anaesthesia Department residents worked 328 hours in September with 6-7 consecutive 24-36 hour shifts. The emergency medicine department reported a 296-hour workload per month.
At AIIMS Bhubaneswar, another RTI reply dated March 26, 2025, confirmed postgraduate residents were assigned 24, 30 and 36-hour continuous shifts, with six 24-hour shifts monthly.
At NIMHANS, despite its national mental healthcare role, RTI replies acknowledged continuous duty shifts ranging from 30 to 60 hours, and later, 30-36 hours.
In 2024, a female PG doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College was raped and murdered after falling asleep post a 36-hour shift, tragically exposing the human cost. During the hearing, the Supreme Court described such marathon shifts as “inhuman”.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this crisis is the consistent pattern of institutional indifference and failure to implement existing safeguards. Despite clear judicial and regulatory guidance, compliance remains poor, oversight is minimal, and support systems are virtually non-existent.
A core failure is the complete absence of documented accountability for working hours. RTI responses reveal a shocking lack of oversight. JIPMER informed activist Swami Das that it has no system to record resident working hours and no official data on their presence in wards. Similarly, the paediatrics department of AIIMS, Delhi, confirmed that duty duration is not recorded in any document. The anaesthesia department admitted, in another RTI reply, that falsified duty rosters make verifying actual hours impossible, even while acknowledging legal liability for assigning illegal 36-hour shifts.
The regulatory framework itself is treated with contempt. When the Supreme Court-mandated 1992 Residency Scheme, which caps work at 48 hours per week, was sought via RTI, the Ministry of Health stated the document was “untraceable”.
Furthermore, the recommendations of the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) own National Task Force have been entirely dismissed. RTI replies confirm none have been implemented, with the NMC stating “No action taken” to a key proposal for 10 days of annual family leave.
Despite alarming rates of resignation and distress, institutions offer no meaningful support. RTI replies show AIIMS Delhi has no formal policy for counselling or grievance redressal. Resignations are accepted without intervention.
Faced with this wall of indifference, the United Doctors Front (UDF) filed a PIL in the Supreme Court. According to Dr Lakshya Mittal, UDF President, the NMC provided a “vague response” deflecting responsibility.
The institutional response to the litigation has been telling. While AIIMS issued an order on August 21, 2025, reiterating the 1992 rules, several colleges simultaneously began avoiding recording actual duty hours, with complaints of fabricated rosters, prioritising the illusion of compliance over real change.
This is not a series of lapses but a fundamental institutional failure. The system normalises extreme overwork, punishes vulnerability, and evades all accountability despite legal provisions. The question is whether the establishment will recognise that the strength of a healthcare system depends not on how much it can extract from its trainees, but on how well it supports them. The lives of students and the nation’s health hinge on the answer.
(Vishnu Rajgadia is a media educator and senior journalist)
