PG medicos in Karnataka allegedly not getting stipend Despite NMC directive
New Delhi: Despite the guidelines issued by the National Medical Commission (NMC) asking medical colleges to pay stipends to postgraduate medical students from private medical colleges, the complaints regarding non-payment of stipends remain unsolved.
According to a recent report by Education Times, Navodaya Medical College, Raichur, and Kanda Bande Nawaz Medical College Gulbarga are a few of the medical colleges where the medicos are not receiving any stipend. Raising the issue, Right to Information (RTI) activist Sharanabasappa Ambesinghe claimed that there is an ongoing stipend scam going on across the country. "We have started a pan-India protest to highlight this issue and regulate it," he said.
Recently around 100 PG students at a private medical college in Sullia, Karnataka complained of non-payment of their monthly stipend by the college authorities. Claiming that the college authorities did not consider their continuous demands and requests for stipends, earlier this week, the PG medicos decided to stage a protest against the management of the institute if their stipends were not released.
Earlier, PG medicos enrolled at a private medical college in Sullia alleged that despite the guidelines issued by the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the State Government regarding stipend amounts, the college management was not adhering to these directives.
Even though the guidelines state that the PG doctors are entitled to receive Rs 45,000, Rs 50,000, and Rs 55,000 for their first, second, and third years, respectively. However, students have revealed that they are only receiving Rs 10,000, Rs 12,500, and Rs 15,000 for the corresponding years.
Speaking to the Education Times, RTI activist Sharanabasappa Ambesinghe opined that there is an ongoing stipend scam going on across the country and added, "Private medical colleges are cheating the students in Karnataka by not paying the stipend or paying less than the stipulated amount. There is no transparency in the system. The students want to take up the issue but cannot as the college management threatens them with academic penalisation. The NMC must make surprise visits and seek audit reports to regulate such malpractice. Every month the college deposits the stipend amount in the bank accounts of students, the record of which is usually shown to the NMC. However, it later withdraws the amount from their accounts through cheques collected from all of them in advance. And, the college has it on record to prove that the stipend amount has been paid regularly."
Earlier activist Ambesinghe had alleged a similar stipend scam at Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, run by Hyderabad Karnataka Education Society (HKES). Claiming that the PG medical students at the concerned medical college had not been getting a full stipend by the college, Ambesinghe had demanded police investigation into the matter.
Activist Sharanabasappa Ambesinghe had demanded that the Kalaburagi Police should take cognisance of the issue, register a case against the college authorities and conduct an investigation into the alleged irregularities.
Such stipend scams are being reported when the NMC guidelines clearly state that PG medicos at the private medical colleges should be paid a stipend at par with the stipend being paid to the PG students of Government institutes, in that particular State/UT.
Also Read: Uniform Stipend for all PG Medicos in a particular State, UT: NMC
Medical Dialogues had last year reported about the glaring disparities in the amount of stipend paid to the Undergraduate and Postgraduate medical students across the country.
As per the data regarding the students admitted through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) examination 2022, which is available on the official website of the Commission, there were glaring disparities in the stipend paid to the Junior Resident doctors across the institutes in a state and also across the country.
The data revealed that the minimum amount of stipend (Rs 20,000 or less than Rs 20,000 per month) is paid to the resident doctors pursuing their postgraduate medical education in medical colleges located in States like Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile recently releasing the final Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023 (PGMER 2023), which were published in the official Gazette on 29.12.2023, the National Medical Commission (NMC) introduced uniformity in the amount of stipend paid to the PG medicos in a particular State/UT.
The Commission specified that the PG medicos who are pursuing degree, diploma or super-speciality courses should be paid a stipend at par with the stipend being paid to the PG students of Government institutes, in that particular State/UT.
This came as a major relief for all the PG medicos since they have been demanding a uniform stipend policy for a long time. There have often been complaints from the resident doctors of private medical institutes that they are paid a meager amount of stipend, compared to the stipend being paid in the Government institutes.
In fact, NMC had previously warned to take strict action against the medical colleges for non-compliance with the provisions of the Regulations of PGMER, 2000 if complaints regarding stipend irregularities were received.
Commenting on the issue, a senior NMC official informed Education Times, "Stipend is mandatory for all medical students. The Commission has formed strict laws against stipend irregularities but corruption continues to rule the roost. NMC conducts physical inspections annually to check the accounts in all medical colleges. Sometimes, the stipend allotted to medical colleges does not reach the students. Many a time, private medical colleges give a stipend to their students but take it back from them by increasing the tuition fees. If any written complaint comes to NMC, action against such medical colleges will be taken immediately. The institutes will be fined and the licence can also be cancelled."
NMC issued the warning after conducting a survey, where the responses gathered from 10,178 PG medical students revealed that altogether 2110 PG students of various private medical colleges across the country were not receiving any stipend.
While 4288 students stated that they were not being paid equal stipend with the students of government medical colleges in the respective states, 1228 students submitted that the stipend paid to them by colleges/institutes was taken back by the management.
Despite such warnings issued by the Apex Medical Regulator, the complaints regarding non-payment of stipend to PG medical students from private medical colleges continue.
Meanwhile, the issue of non-payment of stipend to the MBBS interns across the country is now being considered by the Supreme Court. Recently, the Apex Court directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to to submit the details of the stipend paid to MBBS interns in all the medical colleges across all States within four weeks.
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