THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Supreme Court verdict that forced a private medical college in Delhi to pay fair stipends to MBBS interns came as a shot in the arm for students in the state who have been voicing their concerns. The Army College of Medical Sciences in Delhi informed the court that they started paying Rs 25,000 each per month to all the 105 interns, to comply with the order.
The health activists have welcomed the development. According to them, the apex court verdict would help all medical interns from other colleges to seek similar remedy.
“It is the first time that a private medical college is correcting the stipend discrepancy. The right to stipend has been upheld by the court. It can be a reference for future litigations,” said Dr Babu K V, an RTI activist who supported the students in getting a favourable verdict.
The members of Medical Students Network (MSN), the student unit of Indian Medical Association (IMA), who have been fighting against the stipend disparity are thrilled at the development. “We had conducted extensive campaigns against the disparity without much success. Most of the students do not want to continue the fight as they are focused on completing the course without inviting trouble from the management. This verdict, however, gives hope,” said a medical student.
Despite stipends being a rightful part of clinical training, nearly 70% of medical colleges across the country do not pay stipends, or offer amounts well below the fixed stipend, the counsel for the petitioners informed the court. The situation in Kerala is no different as the students have come out against the wide disparity.
They complained that the stipends are decided by the college authorities and no college is paying stipends on a par with the government medical college. While the students in government medical colleges get around Rs 26,000, the stipends in private colleges vary between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000. A few colleges pay a stipend as low as Rs 1,500 after various deductions.
Dr Babu said the private medical colleges were not addressing the students’ complaints due to lax regulations.“Both NMC and its predecessor had a number of opportunities to bring parity regarding the stipend of MBBS interns. But they torpedoed a proper Graduate Medical Education Regulations for uniform stipend for MBBS interns,” he said.