Names of medical colleges not paying stipend to medicos should be made public: Doctor activist takes on NMC

New Delhi: Stating that the names of the medical colleges which took back the stipend paid to the PG medical students, should be made public, a Kerala-based ophthalmologist and health activist Dr KV Babu has questioned the National Medical Commission (NMC).

This comes after a survey conducted by the NMC revealed that the stipend given to 1228 students by the colleges/institutes was taken back by the management.

Filing a Right to Information (RTI) application on August 27, Dr. Babu sought to know the name and list of medical colleges that took back the stipend paid to 1228 PG medical students. However, he received the RTI reply for the same on September 27 2023 and the Apex Medical Commission declined the information stating that "Third Party information cannot be given under Section 8(e) of RTI Act, 2005."

Explaining the situation and the need for this information to go public, Dr. Babu told Medical Dialogues, "It is clear from the public notice dated 24th August regarding the survey among PG docs that almost 8000 PG doctors are not paid stipulated stipend out of which 1228 PG docs were paid stipend & taken back by the management. Those managements are cheating the NMC /students & public at large. Instead of disclosing their name on the website, the NMC is even stonewalling the RTI applications. It is clear that the NMC is trying to protect the Pvt medical college managements!"

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in compliance with the directions given by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), NMC announced its decision to conduct a survey among the students enrolled in the self-financed/private medical colleges to ascertain the amount of stipend paid to the UG/PG students.

Also Read: Poor Stipend in Private Medical Colleges: NMC receives around 29k responses from MBBS, PG medicos, reveals RTI

NHRC took cognisance of the stipend issue for medical students after a student of Malabar Medical College, Kozhikode filed a complaint and alleged that the House Surgeons are paid inadequate stipend, in violation of Government order.

In compliance with the NHRC's directions, NMC created a Google form and asked all the UG students enrolled in the MBBS internship to fill it up. Apart from the UG MBBS Interns, the PG medical students have also been requested to fill up the form by May 7, 2023.

Issuing an advisory on August 24, 2023, NMC informed that a total of 10,178 responses were received from the PG Students. Out of this 7901 responses were from PG students of Private Medical Colleges.

The Commission analyzed 7901 responses received from PG students from 213 Colleges of 19 States and 02 UTs and noted that altogether 2110 PG students of various Private Medical Colleges across the country gave feedback that they were not receiving any stipend. 4288 students informed that stipend being paid to them was not equal to the stipend being paid in the government medical colleges in the concerned State and 1228 students submitted that stipend given to them by the colleges/institutes was taken back by the management.

In the advisory, the Commission pointed out that as per the Regulation 13 of Post Graduate Medical Education Regulation, 2000, as amended from time to time stipulates- "The Post Graduate students of the institutions which are located in various States/Union Territories shall be paid remuneration at par with the remuneration being paid to the Post Graduate students of State Government Medical Institutions/ Central Government Medical Institutions, in the State/Union Territory in which the institution is located."

However, the NMC Advisory did not reveal the names of those private medical colleges. Thereafter, on August 27, Dr. Babu filed an RTI application and sought to know from the NMC about the names and list of private medical colleges that took back the stipend money from the PG medicos. However, NMC denied sharing the details citing that third-party information cannot be given under Section 8(e) of the RTI Act, 2005.

Filing the RTI, Dr. Babu had also sought copies of the notices issued by NMC PG Medical Education Board to those colleges and the Status of recognition of PG courses of the colleges which took back the stipend money from the students. However, NMC did not share any details regarding this as well.

Referring to this, Dr. Babu told Medical Dialogues, "During the tenure of MCI, one of the reasons for declining permission for PG Course was non payment of stipulated stipend. But during the tenure of NMC one of the reasons for refusing RTI information is asking questions about the action taken against those medical colleges who refused to pay stipulated stipends!"

Also Read: 2110 PG medicos not receiving stipend: NMC issues stern warning to Private medical colleges