Mental health concerns among resident doctors? RTI says 30 JIPMER PGs sought psychiatric consultation in 2025

An RTI response from the Department of Psychiatry at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, allegedly discloses that 30 postgraduate medical students sought psychiatric consultation in 2025.

The information was provided in response to a Right to Information application seeking details about postgraduate students' duty hours, weekly offs and mental health support. According to the reply, "30 post graduate medical students (MD/MS) took Psychiatric consultation in the year 2025 (January 2025 – December 2025)," the RTI reply says, accoding to a post shared online.



For several other queries, including records relating to duty hours, weekly offs and the number of students who quit the course during 2025, the department responded that it did not have the information.

The post described JIPMER as a "toxic centre" and alleged that postgraduate students face harsh working conditions, excessive duty hours and ragging by senior residents in some departments. The post further claimed that junior doctors are often denied adequate rest and weekly offs.

The social media post specifically made allegations regarding the orthopaedics department, claiming that junior residents are subjected to long duty schedules and intense workplace pressure. It also urged resident doctors to report alleged violations through official grievance mechanisms and legal channels.

"PG ragging in JIPMER is very harsh almost in all clinical departments especially in Ortho. In Ortho no JR can get a week off for the first 180 days of ragging period and juniors are never allowed to eat brush and bathe. Also Ortho JRs have twice 36 hours cruel inhumane duty against residency scheme guidelines. HoD does nothing to alleviate the suffering. All done by senior PGs," the post read.

However, the RTI response itself does not establish any connection between psychiatric consultations and residency conditions, duty hours or ragging.

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