Nearly 900 new medical doctors quit within six months in Thailand with a heavy workload and poor work systems cited as contributing elements. Meanwhile, the Medical Council has issued pointers for working hours to help alleviate the state of affairs.
Thai medical professionals are concerned concerning the high variety of doctors who resign after a number of months. This year, 2,700 newly graduated doctors began their careers, out of which 900 have already quit. Dr Puy Mek, a young doctor from Ratchaburi province, lately tweeted about her one-year work expertise, describing her exhaustion and stress, which led to her resignation.
Long working hours, workload, and work systems are the most important reasons behind the resignations. Although the Medical Council has introduced changes to working hours to learn newly graduated medical doctors, the reality has not been as beneficial.
On Itemized , the Medical Council issued guidelines for figuring out working hour limits for public sector docs, together with newly graduated docs who need to work for no much less than a 12 months to enhance their expertise. These pointers state that the working hours for docs outdoors of presidency service shouldn’t exceed 40 hours per week. Additionally, the period of work in emergency drugs and surgical procedure should not last beyond 16 consecutive hours. Furthermore, if the work must continue for 24 consecutive hours, the doctor should receive a minimum of four hours of relaxation.
However, some medical professionals question the guidelines for only covering newly graduated docs with out specifying any for different docs. Policymaker Dr Itthaporn Kanacharoen responded to these considerations throughout an interview, stating that newly graduated docs require more assist of their first 12 months of apply, as they want to undergo a learning process through sensible work in large hospitals or medical centres. Addressing these points early of their careers could help scale back other issues that emerge afterward.
As of April 4, the Medical Council has recorded a complete of 72,250 doctors in Thailand, divided as follows::