Delhi's Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of medical sciences, RML discontinues MBBS scholarship scheme
New Delhi: After announcing an MBBS scholarship scheme a year ago, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences (ABVIMS) and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital have now discontinued the same.
According to TOI report, no financial assistance was provided to a single student under the scheme, TOI has reported.
The decision in this regard was notified in an official order dated January 20, 2026, which stated that the ABVIMS Student Scholarship Scheme, launched in January 2025, was discontinued following a re-examination by the institute.
However, the reasons for discontinuing the scheme were not mentioned in order.
RML administration introduced the scholarship scheme in January 2025. The scheme has two categories- financial need-based scholarship and performance-based scholarship.
Under the financial need-based scholarship, two students can get scholarship awards per batch annually of Rs 36,000 each, which will be paid at Rs 3,000 per month. Furthermore, the academic and hostel fees paid by such students are also to be reimbursed, provided the person is not receiving tuition reimbursement benefits from any other organisation.
On the other hand, two similar awards per batch are granted annually under the academic performance-based scholarship. In this case also, the students also get the same reimbursement benefits.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that none of the MBBS students from the 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 batches received any benefits under the scholarship scheme launched by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr RML Hospital, information obtained via an RTI application had revealed.
In response to the application, the authorities at the institute replied on October 23, saying, "No MBBS student has been disbursed any scholarship of this institute so far."
Reportedly, at least 14 applications had been submitted. However, none of the students received the scholarship benefits.
As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the institute has now discontinued the scholarship scheme. Commenting on the matter, officials at RML Hospital said that the scheme was initiated without prior approval from the Union Health Ministry. "Later, it was realised that no other central govt medical institution runs such a scholarship scheme. In view of this, the decision was taken to withdraw it," said an official.
Under the guidelines, for each batch, two scholarships were to be awarded per year in each category, each worth Rs 36,000 annually, plus reimbursement of academic and hostel fees. Earlier, an RML official attributed the delays to financial implications and said that discussions were underway with the Union Health Ministry.
Now that the scheme has been scrapped, the students at the institute said that the decision left many disillusioned. "It had raised hopes, especially in case of those from weaker backgrounds, but ended without helping anyone," said a student.
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