Stipend, faculty, work hours! NMC to roll out SOPs to to address grievances

New Delhi: The National Medical Commission (NMC) is soon going to introduce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for State Medical Councils to address grievances raised by students regarding non-payment of stipends, extended work hours, and complaints regarding teacher-student ratio in medical colleges, Education Times has reported.

By releasing these SOPs, which are expected to be made available by the end of March or early April 2025, the Apex Medical Commission will provide the State Medical Councils with proper instructions on how to handle complaints from medical students.

Commenting on the issue, a senior NMC official told ET that it received several anonymous complaints, including some frivolous ones. As per NMC, such complaints make it challenging to identify valid grounds to take action.

Also Read: What Action Taken Against Medical Colleges over Non-Payment of Stipend? Here's What NMC says

"The NMC follows specific protocols as outlined in the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023. Since health is a state subject, students must first route their grievance reports through the state Directorate of Medical Education (DMEs) and State medical councils. If students feel justice is not served by these state bodies, they can escalate the matter to the NMC. The complaints must be substantial and not anonymous for further redressal," the official told Education Times.

"We received several complaints from students at medical colleges in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh, including both government and private institutions. However, these complaints did not lead to action as there was a lack of evidence. The NMC’s initiative to introduce SOPs for DMEs and SMCs will help to streamline the grievance redressal process at the state level," the official added.

"As the NMC has the authority to take disciplinary actions, including monetary fines, reducing student intake, or even suspending admissions depending on the severity of violations, it is our responsibility to ensure justice is served," he added.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that after the Supreme Court had taken cognizance of the issue of non-payment of stipends in medical colleges. Later, complying with the Supreme Court's order, the Apex Medical Commission directed all medical colleges to submit details of stipends paid to the medical interns and postgraduate residents for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Referring to this, the NMC official told Education Times, "In addition to receiving the stipend data from medical colleges, the NMC is also cross-verifying complaints by speaking directly with students and the administration. For instance, we previously contacted Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Delhi, over missing stipend information on the NMC portal. Upon investigation, we found that stipends had been paid, but the details were not uploaded on the portal. In such cases, penalising the institution would not have been appropriate and could have negatively impacted the NMC’s reputation."