Behind the white coats, a silent health crisis is unfolding among India’s doctors, raising urgent questions about burnout, mental health, and the need for systemic support.
Doctors spend years mastering the science of healing. They endure rigorous medical education, countless examinations, sleepless nights during training, and immense professional responsibility, all in the service of caring for others. Yet, when it comes to their own health and wellbeing, they often remain among the most neglected.
It is often said that doctors make the worst patients. Behind the white coats and composed bedside manner lies a workforce grappling with long hours, emotional trauma, professional pressures, and a healthcare system that has rarely paused to ask a fundamental question: who heals the healers?
This year’s National Doctors’ Day theme, “Behind the Mask: Who Heals the Healers?”, places that question at the centre of the national conversation.
A Healthcare Workforce Under Pressure
“Indian doctors operate in one of the most demanding healthcare environments in the world,” says Dr Dilip Bhanushali, National Immediate Past President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
According to Dr Bhanushali, doctors routinely navigate overwhelming patient volumes, shortages of healthcare personnel, medico-legal challenges, and increasing incidents of violence against healthcare professionals.
Scientific evidence reflects the severity of the problem. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine found that burnout is highly prevalent among healthcare professionals in India and should be recognised as a major healthcare-related problem requiring timely intervention.
The findings resonate with the Behind the Scrubs Report 2025 by medical lifestyle brand Knya, which surveyed more than 10,000 healthcare professionals across the country. The report found that nearly 83 per cent of doctors in India experience mental or emotional fatigue. The figure rises to 87 per cent among women doctors.
The burden appears particularly severe outside metropolitan centres. Around 85 per cent of doctors in tier-2 and tier-3 cities reported experiencing emotional or physical exhaustion, compared with 74 per cent in tier-1 cities.
The survey also highlighted the intense workload borne by medical professionals. Half of the respondents reported working more than 60 hours each week, while 15 per cent said they regularly work beyond 80 hours weekly.
“Doctors’ wellbeing is often very low on the priority list,” says Dr Bhanushali. “There have been some attempts to introduce and formalise support mechanisms for doctors, but they are far and few in between.”
He notes that while some corporate hospitals and premier institutions have introduced Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), counselling services and wellness initiatives, such interventions remain limited in scope and accessibility.
The Hidden Mental Health Crisis
Doctors routinely witness suffering, loss, trauma and death, often processing these experiences in isolation. Yet, despite the emotional demands of their profession, mental health continues to remain a taboo subject within the medical community.
A 2025 scoping review published in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine analysed 122 studies conducted in India between 2000 and 2024, sourced from PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. The review found that more than half of the doctors surveyed across these studies exhibited significant symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Researchers concluded that these mental health challenges stem not merely from individual vulnerabilities but from broader structural issues, including sociocultural expectations, work-family conflict and the stigma associated with seeking psychological support.
Dr Mihir Bapat, Vice Chairman of Orthopedics and Spinal Surgery at Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital, Mumbai, believes stigma remains one of the greatest barriers.
“Many doctors don’t speak about anxiety, depression, burnout or substance use because they fear being judged or perceived as weak or professionally unfit,” he says. “There are also concerns about confidentiality, career progression, licensing or regulatory implications, and how colleagues or institutions might respond.”
Dr Rajesh Shinde, Director of GI (HPB Colorectal) and Thoracic Surgical Oncology at Apollo Cancer Centre Western Region, Apollo Hospitals, echoes these concerns.
“Doctors are trained to put patients first, and many naturally prioritise everyone else’s needs before their own,” he says. “Time constraints, concerns about confidentiality, and simply believing they should be able to cope on their own often become barriers to seeking help.”
Learning to Cope: A Missing Lesson in Medical Education
For many physicians, learning to deal with the emotional realities of medicine happens through difficult personal experiences rather than formal training.
Dr Sanjay Wazir, Medical Director (NCR) for Neonatology and Pediatrics at Motherhood Hospitals, Gurgaon, believes this needs to change.
“Some difficult experiences from when I started training are still etched in my memory,” he recalls. “While you become more proficient over time, those moments never truly leave you.”
He argues that emotional resilience and coping mechanisms should become a formal component of medical education and professional training.
“It shouldn’t be a one-off lecture but an integral part of medical education and training programmes,” Dr Wazir says. “This is crucial not only for helping doctors manage themselves emotionally but also for improving communication skills, which ultimately leads to better patient care.”
When Doctors Neglect Their Own Health
Doctors regularly advise patients about preventive healthcare, urging them to undergo regular health check-ups, vaccinations, screening tests, exercise, and healthy lifestyle practices. Yet many doctors struggle to follow their own advice.
Long working hours, demanding schedules, emergency duties and the emotional burden of patient care often leave little room for physicians to prioritise their own health. As a result, preventive healthcare frequently takes a back seat.
This neglect carries significant consequences, not only for doctors themselves but also for the quality of care they provide.
Preventive healthcare is as important for physicians as it is for the general population. Regular screenings can help identify conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers at early, more treatable stages. Routine immunisations also provide critical protection against infectious diseases encountered in clinical settings.
Mental health requires equal attention. Burnout, chronic stress and emotional exhaustion can contribute to anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and, in some cases, medical errors. Seeking counselling, taking scheduled breaks, maintaining work-life balance and accessing mental health services should become accepted and encouraged practices.
Even simple lifestyle interventions can significantly improve physicians’ wellbeing. Regular physical activity, balanced nutrition, adequate sleep, stress management and routine health assessments can reduce the risk of chronic illness and improve quality of life.
The Need for Systemic Change
Experts agree that meaningful change cannot occur if physician wellbeing continues to be viewed as an individual responsibility rather than a systemic one.
“The IMA believes that every healthcare institution should have structured physician wellness programmes,” says Dr Bhanushali. “These should include confidential mental health counselling, peer-support groups, reasonable duty hours, adequate rest facilities, periodic health check-ups and zero-tolerance policies towards workplace violence.”
Dr Vinit Banga, Head of Neurology at Fortis Escorts Faridabad, says there is growing recognition of the problem, but much more remains to be done.
“It is reassuring that the importance of the physical and psychological wellbeing of physicians is being recognised,” he says. “However, true change will require improvements in staffing, workplace safety, working hours, access to mental healthcare, management support and the use of technology to reduce administrative burden.”
As India celebrates National Doctors’ Day, the occasion serves not only as an opportunity to honour those who dedicate their lives to healing others, but also as a reminder that doctors themselves need care, support and compassion.
The question posed by this year’s theme is both timely and urgent: if doctors are the ones who heal society, who will heal the healers?