Either Pay or Don't have Internship! SC on Medical Colleges charging Rs 1 crore fee but not paying stipend to MBBS interns
New Delhi: While considering the plea filed by medical students flagging the issue of non-payment of stipend, the Supreme Court recently noted that even after charging crores of rupees for the MBBS course, the medical colleges are not adequately paying stipends to the MBBS interns.
The top Court bench comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prasanna B Varale expressed concerns at the complaints of MBBS interns in this regard. Justice Dhulia orally expressed his discontent over the stand of the medical colleges charging hefty fees on one hand and not being ready to pay stipend on the other.
"What kind of medical colleges are they? They are charging one crore, I do not know how much they are charging for postgraduate students and they are not prepared to give the stipend also," the bench noted.
"Either you pay them, or you don't have the internship," Justice Dhulia was quoted saying by Live Law.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Supreme Court bench had taken cognisance of the issue while considering a plea filed by five MBBS students studying at Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS) affiliated with Guru Govind Singh Indraprashtha University seeking stipend for the period of internship.
Also Read: Non-payment of Stipend to MBBS Interns: Supreme Court tells NMC to respond in Four Weeks
While considering the plea filed by ACMS students, the top court bench had directed the medical college to start paying its Interns Rs 25,000 per month from October 1, 2023.
During the hearing of the case, the counsel for the students Advocate Vaibhav Gagghar had informed the bench that a recent NMC report stated that 70 per cent of the medical colleges in the country are not paying stipends to their interns.
Taking note of this, the bench had directed the National Medical Commission's counsel Advocate Gaurav Sharma to respond to the claim and file an affidavit giving a tabulated chart of colleges which are paying the stipend to the interns and which are not paying.
It said the NMC’s mandate cannot be breached and that interns, who come from different backgrounds, are required to be paid stipend for the period of internship.
Further, the top court bench led by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud directed the Apex Medical Commission to file a report giving details about the claim of petitioners that 70 per cent of medical colleges do not pay any stipend to MBBS interns and what steps have been taken to ensure payment of stipend to them as per the norms.
As per the latest media report by Live Law, during the previous hearing of the case on Monday, the counsel for ACMS, Senior Advocate Colonel (Retired) R Balasubramanium informed that the college is not run by the Government or Army. He submitted that it is run by the Army Welfare Education Society and is registered under the Societies Registration Act. The counsel highlighted that the college does not receive any governmental aid.
When asked if stipend was being paid to the petitioners, the counsel for the petitioner Advocate Tanvi Dubey informed, "for next batch from October onwards. Although they had joined from April, they were paid only from October onwards."
Responding to this, Justice Dhulia asked the ACMS counsel to pay the petitioners and noted, "Either you pay them or you don't have the internship."
Referring to the earlier direction of the court asking NMC to explain the situation and inform details about the steps taken by the commission, the advocate for one of the petitioners argued that NMC has not completely complied with this direction. However, the counsel for the Commission, on the other hand, refuted this allegation and averred that 17 States have responded and are paying.
Therefore, the bench directed the parties to file the relevant documents and listed the matter for further hearing after four weeks.
Also Read: No stipend to MBBS interns is bonded labour: Supreme Court slams NMC
