NEW DELHI: Even as the National Medical Commission (NMC) continues to ignore the issue of medical colleges not paying stipends to their interns, states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Gujarat top the list of having the most institutes out of the 60 in the country that are not paying any compensation, a series of RTIs have revealed.
Although 60 medical colleges - 33 government institutes and 27 private colleges - do not pay stipends, another 50 pay nominal stipends of less than Rs 5,000, some even Rs 2,000.
An RTI filed by Dr K.V. Babu has shown that as many as 10 of the 60 institutes not paying stipends are in Karnataka, which includes six government and four private medical colleges. Karnataka is followed by Gujarat (three government and four private medical colleges), Maharashtra (six government and one private college), and West Bengal (six government and one private college).
Telangana is not paying stipends in three private and two government colleges. Others are Andhra Pradesh (four government institutes), UP (three government colleges), Tamil Nadu (three private colleges), Assam (two government colleges), Madhya Pradesh (two private colleges), and Delhi (two private colleges), as per an RTI reply, dated April 29.
The response was to an RTI filed by Dr Babu, who has been pursuing the issue since last year, and had sought the names of medical colleges not paying stipends to their interns.
The Kerala-based RTI activist filed another RTI on April 2 seeking NMC’s stand against such medical colleges, and was informed that “NMC is the regulatory body which issues guidelines, regulations from time to time.”
“The implementation of the guidelines is solely at the discretion of the state authorities concerned under which the medical college/institute is located,” the RTI reply said.
Dr Babu said, “The position taken by NMC is absurd. Are they expecting the director of medical education or state medical councils to act against the governments for nonpayment of stipends in 33 government medical colleges? If so, under which law?”
“If it is not the responsibility of the NMC to enforce their regulations regarding stipends of UGs and PGs, then why did they issue a show cause notice on November 28, 2024? Their documents show more than 110 medical colleges are not paying stipulated stipends,” Dr Babu, an ophthalmologist, added.
He further said that NMC has the power and responsibility to take action against medical colleges that don’t comply with the regulations under the MSME regulations 2023.
As per the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations (MSME) regulations, 2023, which were gazetted on September 23, if any regulation, including non-payment of stipends to interns and postgraduate students, is violated, several steps can be taken against the erring medical college and institution.
The violation attracts withholding and withdrawal of accreditation for five academic years and a penalty of Rs. 1 crore.
It is to be noted that NMC, which regulates these medical colleges, issued show cause notices to 198 colleges in November last year only after the apex court prodded them. Despite warning them about taking penal action for not submitting stipend details, no action has been taken until now.
