The Delhi High Court today questioned the need for doctors to be on duty for 24 hours or more and said that it should be changed.

  Referring to the shortage of medical professionals, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar observed that in a country "blessed with human resource" the relatives of hospitalised patients need to lug around medicines and reports from one department to another in a hospital.

"Why do we have 24 hour or 30 hour long shifts for doctors? It should be changed," the court said. 

The bench made the observations during a brief hearing of a PIL initiated by it after perusing a news report on the rise in violent attacks on doctors by attendants or relatives of patients.

The court from time to time, through the plea, has been issuing directions for ensuring safety and security of doctors and other medical staff.As part of its directions, the court had asked the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), a body under the Quality Council of India (QCI), to assess the quality of health care and working conditions of medical professionals at three hospitals in the national capital.The hospitals to be inspected were All India Institute of Medical Sciences,  Safdarjung Hospital and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan.

Today, NABH informed the bench that it has inspected the hospitals and sought time to submit its report.Granting time to the organisation the court listed the matter for further hearing on May 14.