12-member committee to decide if OPD hours at govt hospitals can be extended

Mumbai: The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), which runs 35 medical colleges in the state (including dental colleges), has set up a 12-member committee to examine if out-patient department (OPD) hours could be extended beyond the current 8 am to 12 pm slot.

This move aims to control overcrowding in the casualty (emergency) department, where OPD patients often rush if they find the regular counters shut.The decision comes after teachers as well as resident doctors’ associations raised the issue with DMER officials earlier this month. The 12-member committee includes deans from medical colleges like JJ Hospital, GMC Nagpur, and Sassoon Hospital, along with representatives from the Maharashtra State Medical Teachers Association and the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD).MARD president Dr Atharva Shinde said that both emergency services and OPDs are largely managed by resident doctors. “We have also asked the DMER to ensure that faculty members, such as professors, assistant professors, and even heads of departments, are present throughout the OPD hours. They are supposed to be there from the start till the end as per rules but many professors clock in by 10 am and leave by 12pm,” he said.

For the patients, extending the OPD hours would also facilitate access to specialists across departments as opposed to receiving general treatment in the casualty department.The committee members have already started collecting feedback from doctors at all levels. Dr Shinde said MARD would consult with local office-bearers at each medical college before submitting its recommendations.Joint director of DMER Dr Sudhir Medhekar, who is heading this committee, said the report will be submitted to higher authorities but exact timeframe is uncertain. “We are assessing how feasible it is and by how long it can be extended by, if at all, “ he said.