MBBS interns in Kerala upset with meagre stipend of Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000, Health Activists seek redraft of NMC CRMI regulations

Thiruvananthapuram: Amid the ongoing survey of the National Medical Commission (NMC) regarding the stipend paid to MBBS interns and PG resident doctors at private medical colleges, the intern doctors in Kerala have expressed their disappointment with the private medical colleges for paying a meagre amount of stipend.

In around 19 private medical colleges across Kerala, the MBBS interns are getting a stipend ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000 per month. The effective amount of stipend gets further reduced since the students are required to pay a huge amount of money for their accommodation, sources informed Medical Dialogues.

While the students are hopeful that the NMC survey might lead to a positive change in this regard, health activists have opined that the root of the problem is in the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) Regulations 2021, which did not address the demands for a Uniform Stipend Policy.

Referring to the issue, a health activist from Kerala, Dr. Babu KV has opined that NMC needs to "redraft the clauses" in CRMI regulations 2021 to make it "uniform and mandatory".

Medical Dialogues had been reporting about the issue of stipend disparity faced by MBBS interns along with their demands for a Uniform Stipend Policy across the country. Private medical college students across the country have been continuously complaining about not getting stipends by their parent institutes.

Back in 2021, the UG Medical Education Board of NMC released the Draft Regulations For Rotational Compulsory Regulations, 2021. Regarding stipend, the Draft mentioned that All Interns shall be paid stipend as fixed by the appropriate fee fixation authority applicable to the Institution/university/ state. Therefore, the chances of the Interns doctors getting stipend for their service largely depends upon their concerned parent institutes.

Amidst this situation, recently NMC decided to conduct a survey regarding the amount of stipend paid to the intern and resident doctors belonging to the private medical colleges across the country.

Also Read: NMC to conduct survey on medical college stipends, here is how MBBS, PG medicos can participate

NMC took this decision to comply with the directions issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in this regard.  Issuing a notice, 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 UG/PG students.

In this regard, NMC created a Google form asked all the UG students enrolled in 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.

The MBBS interns from private medical colleges in Kerala are willingly participating in the survey since they are extremely disappointed with the meagre amount paid to them by the managements. In around 19 private medical colleges in Kerala, the students are getting an amount of stipend ranging from Rs 7,000 to Rs 14,000. However, in several colleges, the students are asked to pay a huge amount for accommodation in advance. So, effectively the students get around Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000 per month to meet their monthly expenses.

While commenting on the matter, the State Secretary of the Indian Medical Association Medical Students Network (IMA MSN) Kerala, Dr. Musammil told Medical dialogues, "For accommodation, the students need to pay around Rs 5,000 per month. So, if a college pays Rs 9,000 as stipend to its interns, effectively, the students get Rs 4,000 per month. However, there are some colleges also that pay Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000 per month to the students."

Dr. Musammil claimed that paying such a paltry amount of stipend to the intern doctors is a gross violation of human rights. He added, "MBBS Interns work 24x7 for 30 days a month. They are on-call all the time and they do not even get proper sleep to fulfill their work commitments including the ward duries. Despite this, at the end of the month they get an amount of Rs 5,000 per month to meet their expenses. I don't think it happens in any other profession. This is basically violation of the human rights of medical students."

When asked about the students' reaction regarding the NMC survey, he mentioned, "Students are willingly participating in the survey. In fact they are very much surprised why NMC has initiated the survey now because for a long time, no one paid any attention to the issue. This issue has been going on for a long time and the students had reached several authorities in the past including the court."

"Private medical colleges demand that they do not have enough money to pay stipend. These are all cooked-up stories because established private medical colleges should be able to afford the stipend paid to the students," he further added.

However, the principal of Al-Azhar Medical College in Thodupuzha, Dr. Jose Joseph has denied the allegations that the MBBS interns in the private medical colleges were getting lesser amount of stipend. Commenting on this, he told the New Indian Express, “The management decides the stipend based on the university guidelines. We give the same stipend as recommended by the fee regulation committee. The survey allows students to complain about the disparity.”

Meanwhile, health activists such as Dr. Babu KV has opined that the rules need to be modified. Speaking to Medical Dialogues regarding the issue, he mentioned, "Even though the NMC survey for assessing the ground realities regarding stipend for MBBS interns is a welcome move, they actually need to redraft the clauses in CRMI regulations 2021 to make it uniform and mandatory."

Referring to the NMC notice regarding the survey about the stipend paid to the UG and PG students, Dr. Babu KV has recently written to the NMC Chairman. In an e-mail communication, he pointed out to NMC that according to the CRI regulations 2021, the interns are paid stipend as fixed by appropriate fee fixation authority as applicable to the institution/ university/state.

"This is very vague & gives ample opportunity for the private medical college management to deny stipend to MBBS interns," Dr. Babu mentioned in the e-mail.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that even though Dr. Babu had submitted his suggestions on the stipend of MBBS interns to the Apex Medical Body, NMC had ignored his comments and published the regulations on the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship.

Dr Babu had suggested that all the MBBS interns should get stipend on par with interns of the State Government Medical Institution/ Central Government Medical Institution in the State/Union Territory where the institution is located.

Even though NMC had mentioned that his comments had been received, the same had not been considered by the Apex medical commission. Last year, the Union Health Ministry had forwarded the representation of Dr. Babu and the RTI applications filed by him to NMC for "necessary action". In fact, the Health Department had asked NMC to directly provide information to Dr. Babu.

Also Read: Uniform Stipend for MBBS Interns: Health Ministry directs NMC for necessary action on RTI