NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry is considering an appeal against the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) inaction on stipend parity for all undergraduate medical interns, whether in government or private colleges, according to an RTI.
This follows the ministry’s two letters to the NMC, asking it to examine stipend parity.
Medical interns and resident doctors associations like FAIMA and FORDA have raised this concern many times.
The NMC, which oversees medical education in India, is aware of differences in intern stipends. Interns, often called the backbone of hospitals, sometimes work more than 30 to 36 hours straight without a break.
In February, the NMC had agreed that there is no stipend parity and that an amendment is needed in accordance with the statutory process.
However, in response to RTI activist Dr KV Babu’s June 30 query, the NMC said, "As and when the regulations are revised or amended, the inputs will be sought from stakeholders."
Kerala-based Dr Babu told this paper that he filed an appeal with the ministry on July 15, asking for action against the NMC for not looking into the issue, even after two reminders from the health ministry.
In an RTI reply, dated October 22, the ministry told him that his "appeal is under consideration."
"The issue of stipend parity for interns has been pending with the government for over four years and with the NMC for more than a year," the ophthalmologist said.
"Even though the Ministry of Health wrote to the NMC in November 2025 to review the stipend provision for undergraduate interns under the CRMI Regulations, 2021, considering the rules under PGMER, 2023, the NMC has not acted yet," he added.
The health ministry had asked the NMC to examine amending the key provision of the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship Regulations, 2021 (CRMI Regulations 2021), which states that "all interns shall be paid a stipend as fixed by the appropriate authority applicable to the institution/University or State."
This rule is different from the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulation-2023, which treats Post graduates in government and private medical colleges the same.
Dr Babu said the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB), part of the NMC and overseeing undergraduate medical education, replied in February that the CRMI regulations need to be amended to address this issue.
"Based on my appeal to the government, the Medical Education Policy Section (MEP) under the Union Health Ministry wrote to the NMC again for its comments. The NMC, which was in a hurry to withdraw MSMER 2023, apparently helping the medical college managements, is dragging their feet in amending the discriminatory CRMI regulations. I hope the government will step in to amend CRMI regulations to bring stipend parity," he added.
The NMC withdrew the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023 (MSMER-2023) on October 17. This raised questions about oversight, since the withdrawal removed rules that allowed a fine of Rs. 5 lakh for violations like submitting false records.
Medical interns across the country, including in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Bihar, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, have raised this issue in recent years.
In many states, interns went on strike, demanding a national minimum monthly stipend of Rs. 30,000.
Government medical colleges pay interns between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 30,000, but private colleges often pay only half that amount or nothing at all.
NMC data from 2025 showed that 60 out of 555 medical colleges did not pay any stipends, and many others paid less than Rs 5,000 per month.
The stipend issue is before the Supreme Court.
In its October 28 order last year, the Supreme Court criticised the NMC, saying it is "dragging its feet without any serious concern” about unpaid stipends for interns, and urged it to “wake up from its slumber and take appropriate steps."