Physicians incensed that the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation has reduced the allotted time for seeing new patients from forty minutes to twenty minutes, have taken to chanting, "Don't touch patient time, every minute counts."

Protest.Photo byJames EadesonUnsplash

A new rule that went into effect last week cuts in half the amount of time a doctor can see a new patient, due to the backlog of hundreds of patients waiting to see doctors.

Physicians held a demonstration outside Queens Hospital Center to express their outrage over the scheduling adjustment.

Making our patients as healthy as possible is our goal. We're going to miss something if we can't cover everything in the allotted 20 minutes. That's the reason Dr. Jasmine Sandhu expressed worry.

Challenges For Physicians

Taking on new patients presents a number of problems, according to doctors. Often, it goes beyond medicine.

In a labor dispute with the hospital administration, doctors express serious concerns about staff morale and patient safety in the event that they do not have enough time with a doctor. Health and Hospitals was contacted for comment by a local news agency, but no one responded.

Everything depends on time. Every minute matters, according to the physicians, and they hope the city will take note of their worries, reverse the shorter schedule, and give them the time required to deliver high-quality medical care.