NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued show cause notices to 198 government and private medical colleges and institutions for not sharing information about stipends paid to undergraduate interns, postgraduate residents and senior residents.
While a whopping 115 government medical colleges and institutions failed to submit information on stipends paid to interns and junior and senior residents, as many as 83 private colleges also did not submit the details.
Most medical colleges and institutions violating the norms are located in Telangana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Among the prestigious institutions that failed to comply with the NMC order include Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medical College and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences, and Dr RML Hospital.
The move came only after the Supreme Court ordered NMC to submit the details of stipends paid to the medical interns and residents.
Following this, the NMC directed these health institutions and medical colleges to submit the stipend details to their UG interns, PG residents and senior residents or PGs in the super speciality for 2023-24 and 2024-25 on their websites every month.
However, as many failed to submit the information on time, the NMC issued a show cause as to “why penal action should not be taken against them for their failure to submit the information/details of the stipend paid.”
In a letter dated November 28, NMC Secretary Dr B Srinivas said the “defaulting medical colleges are directed to furnish the data relating payment of stipend during 2023-24 on the dedicated email ID immediately and within the next 3 days from the issue of this show cause notice.”
Twelve government medical colleges and institutions in Telangana and Rajasthan failed to submit the details on a stipend. It was followed by states like Maha (11), Karnataka (10), Tamil Nadu and Kerala (6 each), and Jammu and Kashmir (5), Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand (4 each).
Similarly, the maximum number of violators among private medical colleges and institutions was from Telangana. As many as 13 such institutes failed to submit information on paid stipends to these interns and residents. It is followed by Karnataka (10), Maharashtra (9), Tamil Nadu (8), Uttar Pradesh (8), Gujarat (7), Andhra Pradesh (6) and Kerala (4).
As many interns and resident doctors associations, including FAIMA and FORDA, had raised the matter of medical colleges and institutions not paying interns and residents stipends despite making them work round the clock, the NMC surveyed to ascertain the amount paid to UG/PG students last year. This step came only after the directions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The NMC had promised to keep the identity of the participants confidential.
The survey showed that of the over 7,000 PG students, 2,000 did not receive stipends, most of which were from private colleges. Following the survey findings, the NMC warned these private medical colleges that action would be taken against them if they failed to pay their wages to them.
When RTI activist Dr K V Babu filed an RTI with the NMC on what action they had taken in this regard against the private medical colleges following the survey findings, the NMC refused to share the information, stating that it was based on “third party” and exempted as per section 8(1) (g) of RTI Act, 2005. Dr Babu filed an appeal, which was dismissed similarly by the NMC.
“The NMC, which refused to share the details of medical colleges’ not paying PG stipend, has directed them to upload the details of the stipend paid! They're falling in line now because of the SC ruling,” Dr Babu told this paper.
“The NHRC, in its direction of March 2023, have clearly instructed the NMC to deregister the private medical colleges refusing to clear the arrears of interns from 1st July 2021. But NMC has failed to do so. They issue warnings but don't take concrete steps,” he said.
Not just a stipend, but there is a disparity in the amount given to these interns and residents. The stipend for PG students varies from one state medical hospital to another. It ranges from Rs. 45,000 to Rs. 95,000. However, private medical colleges and hospitals pay PG students even less than Rs. 25,000; some pay them in instalments.