Foreign Medical Graduates in Tamil Nadu to get Rs 25,750 monthly stipend for Internship
Chennai: Bringing good news to the Foreign Medical Graduates in Tamil Nadu, the State Government has announced that the medical graduates from abroad will be paid Rs 25,750 monthly stipend for pursuing Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI).
While the amount of stipend has been fixed at Rs 25,750 during the year 2022-2023, it will increase automatically at the rate of 3% on yearly basis.
The State has also provided clarity regarding the Internship fees. The GO mentions that if the candidates are unable to pay Rs 2 lakh upfront, the amount shall be deducted from their stipend in 12 instalments.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the FMGs in Tamil Nadu were demanding clarity regarding the Government's earlier decision of waiving off the Internship fees.
In the case of Tamil Nadu, in order to enroll themselves in the CRRI programmes, the students need to pay fees to the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University for obtaining a no-objection certificate. Previously, the medical graduates had to pay Rs 3.54 lakh to the University, along with Rs 2 lakh to the preferred medical college where they were undergoing the mandatory CRRI training.
Back in March 2022, the National Medical Commission (NMC) provided major relief to 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.
Also Read: Major Relief for FMGs: TN cuts Internship Fee by 90 percent
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.
Bringing relief to the FMGs from Tamil Nadu, the State Government had announced back on July 29 about around 90% fee reduction for the FMGs willing to undergo the Compulsory Rotatory Internship (CRRI) in India.
The confirmation in this regard had come from the State Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian, who had announced that instead of paying almost Rs 5.20 lakh for the internship, the medicos will have to pay a meagre amount of Rs 30,000.
Apart from completely waiving off Rs 2 lakh to be paid to the government, it was decided to drastically reduce Rs 3.20 lakh to be paid to the MGR Medical University, the Minister had told the media.
Despite such an announcement made back in July, there was no further order in this regard and therefore the FMGs in Tamil Nadu were confused whether or not to pay the previous fees of around Rs 2 lakhs for undergoing internship. Therefore, urging the State to publish the GO at the earliest, the Tamil Nadu FMGs had initiated protest as well.
As per the latest media report by Edex Live, recently a meeting was held between the Dr Senthil Kumar, Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Medical Students' Association (TNMSA) and Tamil Nadu's Principal Secretary of Health & Family Welfare, P Senthil Kumar IAS. In the meeting the State had promised that the Government Order would be published within the week.
Consequently, the Government issued an order on November 22 the order was quoted stating by Edex Live, "...all the Foreign Medical Graduates/Indian Medical graduates pursuing Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship shall be paid with the stipend at the rate of Rs 25,270/- per month during the year 2022-2023. There will be an automatic 3% annual increase in subsequent years for Foreign Medical Graduates similar to the regular Compulsory Medical Rotatory Internships."
Since the Government could not waive off the Rs 2 lakh joining fees, the Government clarified, "If the aspiring Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship trainee is not able to pay…Rs 2,00,00 upfront…charges shall be deducted from their stipend in 12 instalments…"
While commenting on this. Dr. Senthil Kumar said, "They could not get approval for the fees of Rs 2 lakh for genuine financial reasons and for medical graduates who will be unable to pay the fees, Rs 18,000 from the monthly stipend of Rs 27,750 will be deducted for 12 months."
Therefore, the FMGs who are unable to pay Rs 2 lakh fees will receive Rs 8000 to Rs 10,000 as their monthly stipend. "Even though all our demands were not met, we are still satisfied with the government's order," added Dr. Kumar.
Speaking to the Times of India, state health secretary P Senthil Kumar added that the recent order will be beneficial for the FMGs as the amount they will be paying to Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has been slashed. Further, they will get monthly stipend for the first time.
"If the graduates can't afford the 2 lakh fee, they can opt for monthly installments," he added.
Welcoming the decision, the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association (TNMOA) has issued a statement in this regard. The association mentioned how they had placed a demand to the Health Minister for granting stipend to the foreign medical graduates taking up internship in government medical college hospitals. They had also pointed out that denying stipend to the FMGs was violation of their rights, adds The Hindu.
Also Read: Publish Govt order waiving Internship Fees: Tamil Nadu FMGs urge Govt
