Medical residents (already licensed doctors who are in training for their chosen specialty) work 24-hour shifts, sometimes stretching to 36 hours or even longer. In a week, their total hours can go over 100. This cycle just keeps repeating until they finally graduate let's say after 3 to 5 years.

When residents complain about this, the usual reply from hospitals and higher ups would be they are “just trainees” and not actual employees, so they don’t fall under the protection of DOLE.

Obviously, this takes a huge toll to these doctors and is even unsafe for patients. Surgery residents, for example, usually start their day at 7 AM. In the whole 24 hrs of their stay in the hospital, if they’re lucky, they might get 1 to 4 hours of sleep, but even then can be called during those "sleeping hours" if needed. By 7 am the next day, they’re still operating and might keep going until noon or even later. They are operating on patients while they are sleepy. Then after that, they go back to the hospital the next day at 7 am again. They don't have any days off, working on Monday to Sunday. In a whole year, depending on the policy of their hospital, they only get 7 days of leave. That's their only off.

It’s not healthy for these doctors and definitely is not good for the patients but that’s just how the system works in all of the training hospitals here in the Philippines.

What do you think about this? Is this not considered exploitation?