Stipend, faculty, work hours! NMC to roll out SOPs to to address grievances
National Medical Commission (NMC)
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.
"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."
Last year in November, NMC slapped show-cause notices on 198 medical institutes for not complying with the Commission's directives to uphold the details of the stipend paid to the interns and resident doctors. Releasing a list of these medical colleges on 28.11.2024, NMC specified that the failure of those colleges to submit the information regarding stipends was "considered seriously".
The list of medical colleges, which were issued show-cause, included renowned institutes such as Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), New Delhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr. RML Hospital, New Delhi, Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College, Rohini, ESIC run medical colleges, Raipur Institute of Medical Sciences RIMS, GMERS medical colleges, Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College & Hospital, DY Patil medical college, MGM Vashi and many more.
Previously, Kerala-based Health Activist Dr. KV Babu had filed an RTI application seeking to know what action was taken by the Commission against these colleges.
Back then, NMC did not provide any information stating that the matter was still sub-judice. Dr. Babu filed another RTI and on the question about the status of action taken against the 198 medical colleges, NMC recently informed on 11.02.2025 that the concerned States/UTs where those medical institutes are located must bear the responsibility.
Even though NMC has reiterated that the responsibility of implementing the guidelines lies with the concerned State/UT where the medical institute is located, Dr. Babu pointed out that as per PGMER 2023, the post-graduate students undergoing post-graduate Degree/Diploma/Super-speciality courses in all the institutions shall be paid a stipend at par with the stipend being paid to the post-graduate students of State Government medical institutions/Central Government medical institutions, in the State/Union Territory where the institution is located.
Regarding the issue of stipend for the MBBS interns, the NMC CRMI Regulations, 2021 states that the interns shall be paid a stipend as fixed by the appropriate authority applicable to the institution/ University or State.
Meanwhile, NMC in the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023 has specified what penalties may be imposed on the institute for violation of its rules. As per these regulations, NMC can take action against a medical institute for violation of any of the regulations and such penalties could include withholding and withdrawal of accreditation for five academic years and a penalty of Rs 1 crore.
Also Read: 60 Medical Colleges Not Paying Stipend to Medicos- NMC response to RTI
