Health Bulletin 12/June/2025

A total of 60 medical colleges in India are not paying any stipend to MBBS interns and resident doctors, the National Medical Commission (NMC) revealed in response to RTI queries. Some colleges pay as little as Rs 2000 to Rs 7000. While NMC guidelines mandate stipend payments, the Commission clarified that enforcement is the responsibility of State authorities.

In response to a series of Right to Information (RTI) applications filed by Kerala-based Health Activist Dr. KV Babu, the Apex Medical Commission has informed that 33 government and 27 private medical colleges are not paying stipends to their medical students.

The Commission also provided the doctor with the details of the stipend paid by medical colleges, which revealed that around 50 medical colleges across the country are paying a nominal amount of Rs 5000 or less to their undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) medical students.

MBBS and BDS students getting admitted to the Government medical and dental colleges in Tamil Nadu will have to serve in the rural areas of the State for five years after completion of the course or pay Rs 5 lakh as a penalty.

Releasing the Prospectus for Admission to MBBS/BDS Degree courses in Tamil Nadu Government Medical/Dental Colleges, Government Quota seats in self-financing medical/dental colleges, ESIC Medical College affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University and State Private Universities for the 2025-2026 session, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research specified the bond service conditions for the medical and dental students.

The prospectus also included an agreement bond form for candidates admitted for MBBS/BDS course for the academic year 2025-2026. The students will have to submit this agreement bond at the time of admission.

The Supreme Court's recent ruling directing the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to conduct the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) Examination in a single shift came as major relief for the aspirants who were concerned about the double shift exam pattern and especially the normalisation method.

Now that NBE has announced that the NEET PG Examination will be conducted on August 03, 2025, the aspirants are waiting for the next Supreme Court hearing when the other concerns regarding the transparency in the PG medical entrance examination will be discussed.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that multiple pleas were filed before the Apex Court addressing different aspects of the NEET PG Examination. Apart from the challenge against the two-shift examination pattern and the normalisation method, the candidates from NEET PG 2024 and NEET PG 2025 had also demanded transparency and fairness in the exam. Their demands also included the release of the NEET PG question paper and answer keys.

To strengthen public healthcare services, the Punjab government on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Ludhiana's Christian Medical College (CMC) to set up the state's first Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) facility in the public sector.

The aim is to launch a life-saving initiative for children suffering from thalassemia and find a permanent solution.

According to the PTI report, the MoU was signed in the presence of Health Minister, Dr Balbir Singh, who applauded the collaborative spirit of this initiative and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to making advanced healthcare accessible and affordable for all.

Under this programme, eligible patients, particularly children under 12 years, will be provided free HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) typing and subsidized allogeneic stem cell (bone marrow) transplantation, which is currently the only curative treatment for thalassemia. Once successfully treated, these children no longer require lifelong blood transfusions.