Chandigarh, Jan. 9 -- Work-life balance is a myth - at least for resident doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, who routinely work for 80-90 hours a week, sometimes with no offs for weeks at stretch.

This even as the Central Residency Scheme of 1992, a directive by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare aimed at providing better working conditions to resident doctors, caps their duty hours at 12 hours a day. Additionally, the scheme states that the working hours per week cannot exceed 48 hours and the residents are to be provided at least one week off every seven days.

In September last year, PGI director Dr Vivek Lal too had issued a circular to all department heads, asking th...