Kathmandu. Resident doctors, who are the backbone of Nepal’s health service, are now becoming victims of labor exploitation in their own workplaces. These doctors, who are responsible for saving the lives of patients, are themselves overworked, sleep deprived and mentally stressed. It is wrong both constitutionally and legally to try to keep them out of the prevailing labour law by tagging them as ‘trainees’. <\/p>\n
1. Blatant violation of constitutional rights<\/strong><\/p>\n Article 34 (Right to Labour) of the Constitution of Nepal (2072) clearly states: <\/p>\n \u2022 Clause (1): Every worker shall have the right to fair labour practice. <\/p>\n \u2022 Clause (2): Every worker shall have the right to social security based on appropriate remuneration, facilities and contributions. <\/p>\n When resident doctors are employed continuously for 24 to 36 hours, they are not only deprived of their right to ‘fair labour practice’ but also the provision under Article 29 (Right against Exploitation) that “no one shall be employed against his will”. <\/p>\n 2. Labor Act 2074 and Residents’ Rights <\/strong><\/p>\n Many teaching hospitals consider a resident to be a mere “student”, but Section 2(i) of the Labour Act defines a “worker” as “a person who performs physical or intellectual work for the employer in remuneration”. Residents are required to visit the hospital’s OPD and ICU. And the work to be done in the operating room is purely intellectual and physical labor. <\/p>\n Major points of violation of the Labor Act:<\/p>\n \u2022 Working time (Section 28): The Act prohibits working for more than 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week. But the residents are forced to work 80 to 100 hours a week. <\/p>\n \u2022 Overtime (Section 30): If more than 48 hours of work is required, the consent of the worker is required and overtime payment is 1.5 times the normal wage (150%). Residents of Nepal do not even get ‘post duty’, let alone get this facility. <\/p>\n \u2022 Rest Time (Section 31): The right to a break of half an hour after working continuously for 5 hours is in the case of a resident, in the case of an emergency and OT service. The void is mostly in the name of the Zero. <\/p>\n \u2022 Weekly Holiday (Section 34): It is mandatory to get one day off every week, which has become a dream for residents. <\/p>\n 3. Health and Safety Risks<\/strong><\/p>\n Chapter 12 of the Labor Act has provisions for ‘occupational health and safety’. Due to excessive fatigue, the doctor’s own health not only deteriorates, but also poses a serious threat to the patient’s safety. There is a high possibility of error in the ‘prescription’ or ‘procedure’ given by a doctor who does not sleep for 30 hours, for which who will be responsible? <\/p>\n 4. “Student” or “Labor”? Illusion and reality<\/strong><\/p>\n Hospitals are using residents as a source of cheap labor. The emotive argument that ‘one should suffer in the time of learning’ cannot replace the law. If we look at the standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the example of developed countries, there is a fixed duty hour limitation for resident doctors. <\/p>\n 5. Way Forward: Improvement Measures <\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Determination of working hours: The weekly working hours of the residents should be limited to a maximum of 60 hours and ‘post-call off’ should be mandatory. <\/p>\n 2. Remuneration and overtime: According to the Labor Act, there should be a minimum wage and proper allowance of overtime. <\/p>\n 3. Monitoring: The Nepal Medical Council and the Department of Labor should jointly monitor the working conditions of the hospitals. <\/p>\n 4. Legal remedies: If a hospital violates the Labor Act, the residents should file a collective complaint with the Labour Court or the concerned body. <\/p>\n Being a doctor does not mean giving up your basic human rights and labor rights. Treating resident doctors as slaves is a disgrace to modern medical education. Unless doctors are safe and healthy, it is futile to imagine quality healthcare. Therefore, it is imperative to respect the labor of resident doctors by following the Labor Act 2074 in letter and spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kathmandu. Resident doctors, who are the backbone of Nepal’s health service, are now becoming victims of labor exploitation in their own workplaces. These doctors, who are responsible for saving the lives of patients, are themselves overworked, sleep deprived and mentally stressed. It is wrong both constitutionally and legally to try to keep them out ofContinue reading “Labour Exploitation on Resident Doctors: Darkness Inside the ‘White Coat’ in the Labor Act and Constitution”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-breaking-second-en","category-samachar-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/doctor.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72180,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72179\/revisions\/72180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/72177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}