Around 130 Compulsory Rotatory Residential Interns staged a demonstration at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital here on Monday as part of a Statewide agitation to draw the attention of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to their demands, which include an improvement in working conditions.
A.K. Abinesh, president of the Coimbatore chapter, told reporters that house surgeons, as they are known, had to do technical works such as taking blood samples, compiling reports, and washing bottles.
Work
Even though the one year compulsory internship at the end of the MBBS course was intended to provide practical knowledge, the students ended up doing the work of paramedical staff and staff nurses.
He said that a Madras High Court order in 2006 mandating 52 days of annual leave and a weekly off day for house surgeons were not being implemented. House surgeons were being asked to work for up to 36 hours at a stretch despite Apprentices Act mandating that interns must not be made to work beyond eight hours.
Mr. Abinesh said that they had already staged two protests.
