NEW DELHI: The country’s medical education regulator has ruled that even MBBS students in private medical colleges will get paid during the internship period.
At present, only interns in government medical colleges get a stipend for the one-year internship period post the fifth year of the MBBS course. The decision is set to benefit nearly 40,000 medics.
The Medical Council of India-Board of Governors recently gave its approval to the proposal. Other formalities regarding this are likely to be completed soon. A senior MCI-BOG member said the move was aimed at ending the disparity between students in private and government colleges.
MBBS students in private colleges had long been demanding that they too be paid during internships. There are nearly 240 private medical colleges in India, with the highest concentration in Maharashtra and five southern states.
“It has been decided that if a student of a private medical college does an internship at a hospital of the same college, the hospital will have to pay that student. However, in case the student pursues internship from another hospital, he or she will not be paid,” the official clarified.
Government medical colleges pay between Rs 6,000-Rs 20,000 to interns.