FMG Interns to get Rs 5,000 Stipend as per Telangana Govt Order, Doctors See Red

Hyderabad: The Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) who are undergoing the mandatory Internship in both government and private medical colleges of the State of Telangana will get a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000.

State Government has issued this guideline while amending its previous Government Order dated 02.03.2023, which mentioned that the "Interns shall be paid stipend on par with Indian Medical Graduates by respective medical colleges/institutions"

The new Government Order dated 29.05.2023 announced the decision of the Government to amend the sub para (iv) of para (2) of G.O.Ms.No.32, HM&FW (C1) Dept. dated 02.03.2023.

"The interns shall be paid stipend of Rs 5,000 per month in both government as well as private medical colleges," read the amendment issued by the State Secretary S.A.M. Rizvi.

The amendment has been issued by the Government after the Chairman of Telangana State Medical Council wrote to the State in this regard. Referring to this, the order dated May 29 mentioned, "In the circumstances reported by the Chairman, Telangana State Medical Council in the reference 2nd read above, Government, after examination of the matter, hereby issue the following amendment to orders issued in reference 1st read above."

Meanwhile, the doctors under the association of Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) has voiced its concern in this regard. Opposing this decision of the State, the association mentioned in a Tweet, "Clear cut exploitation of FMG interns by Govt of Telangana. And also creating discrimination btw Indian & FMG interns at same work place and with similar work."

Also Read: Take Strict Action on Medical Colleges charging MBBS Internship fee, not paying stipend to FMGs: NMC orders State Counterparts

HRDA has demanded the State to withdraw the Government Order immediately and also urged Health Minister T Harish Rao to look into the matter. The association is also planning to write to the National Medical Commission (NMC) in this regard.

Speaking to Medical Dialogues, the President of HRDA, Dr. Mahesh Kumar added, "There is no doubt that this is an exploitation of the Foreign Medical Graduates. The Government is creating a discrimination. These students were allowed to go abroad to pursue their medical education with the permission from the Government of India. They have also cleared the top examination FMGE. They are also doing one more year of Internship."

"NMC should intervene and should not remain silent in this regard. We will be writing to the NMC shortly. We do not encourage this kind of discrimination and exploitation of Interns. There should be equal work and equal pay," he added.

Commenting on the matter, the President of the Telangana Junior Doctors Association, Dr. Kaushik Kumar Pinjarala told Medical Dialogues, "All interns should be paid equally when the amount of work done is the same by all the interns in the state. There shouldn't be such discrimination in the pay just because they did their graduation in some other country. They had to choose graduation in some other country because we had very few medical colleges back then in the state unlike today."

"For the long duty hours and their hardwork a pay of 5000 is an insult to the medical profession! Every FMG who is doing internship right now is around 25 yrs old or more. Even at this age, if an intern is made to work with such low pay, the intern will be still dependent on family for daily expenses," he further mentioned.

What do the rules say?

Medical Dialogues had last year reported that providing major relief to the Foreign Medical Graduates who want to pursue internship in India, NMC had clarified that the Indian medical colleges shall not charge any fees from the medical graduates from abroad for permitting them to do internship in India. 

In fact, the apex medical regulator had further made it clear that the FMGs would be paid equal stipend and other facilities just like the Indian Medical Graduates who are being trained at Government Medical Colleges.

However, this matter was again addressed by NMC this year when it issued a clarification regarding the conduct of internships for medical graduates from abroad.