NEW DELHI: After five years, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has finally agreed that there is a stipend parity for undergraduate medical interns, whether they are studying in government or private medical colleges.
This follows the Union Health Ministry directions, not once but twice last year. Finally, responding to the ministry, the NMC on February 18 said, “Any amendment to the CRMI Regulations, 2021, if required, would need consideration in accordance with the statutory process and after due consultation with all concerned authorities.” While the government medical colleges pay interns between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000, private colleges either pay half of that or none at all.
Data from NMC in 2025 showed that 60 of 555 medical colleges were not paying stipends, and many were paying nominal stipends of less than Rs 5,000 per month.
Speaking with this paper, RTI activist Dr KV Babu said when the draft CRMI regulations were put in the public domain in 2021, he had informed the UGMEB that “this is very vague and gives ample opportunity for the private medical college management to deny stipends to MBBS interns.”
The Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship Regulations, 2021, or CRMI Regulations 2021, stated that “all interns shall be paid a stipend as fixed by the appropriate authority applicable to the institution/university or state.”
While the CRMI regulations left the decision of the stipend on the authorities of the institution, in contrast, the PGMER-2023 clearly stated that “all the candidates pursuing compulsory rotating internships at the institution from which the MBBS course was completed shall be paid a stipend on par with that of the State Govt. Medical Institution, Central Government Medical Institution in the State, and Union Territory where the institution is located.”
Responding to the Under Secretary, Medical Education Policy Section (MEP), on the request to withdraw the CRMI Regulation 2021 and Gazette it again after incorporating the comment, the Director of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB), Ram Pratap, said, “Hence, as per the CRMI Regulation 2021, it is stated that the existing regulation already provides for the payment of a stipend to interns.”
As soon as the NMC announced the regulation in 2021, Dr Babu had raised the issue and shared his comments for incorporation.
But when the NMC failed to amend the provision, he wrote to the Health Ministry on June 4, 2022, requesting them to withdraw the notification.
On November 6, Dr Babu again wrote to the health ministry after the SC slammed the NMC for non-payment of stipends to interns.
The ministry responded immediately and issued the direction to the NMC. The NMC finally responded to the ministry on February 18.