SC seeks NMC's response on plea claiming 70 percent of Medical Colleges not Paying Stipend to MBBS Interns
New Delhi: While considering a plea that alleged that 70 percent of medical colleges do not pay any stipend or are not paying the minimum stipend to doctors who are doing MBBS internships, the Supreme Court on Friday sought the National Medical Commission's response in the matter.
The top court bench led by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud directed the Apex Medical Commission to 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.
These observations were made by the Apex court while considering a plea of five MBBS students studying at Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS) established by Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) and affiliated to Guru Govind Singh Indraprashtha University seeking stipend for the period of internship.
Apart from directing NMC to explain the stipend scenario for MBBS interns, the bench also directed Delhi's ACMS to pay Rs 25,000 as stipend to its MBBS interns from October 1, 2023, adds PTI.
CJI Chandrachud said even the Supreme Court is paying Rs 80,000 as stipend to its law clerks and wondered why the college can’t pay Rs 1 lakh to the MBBS interns. Senior advocate R Balasubramanium, appearing for the ACMS, said the college has nothing to do with the Army. It was not receiving any aid from the defence ministry and is run by the AWES on a no-profit basis with the intention of serving the children of armed personnel.
“Can you say we won’t pay the ‘Safai Karamcharis’ (sanitation workers) because we are non profit? It’s a profit for you but it is a livelihood for them. Can you say we won’t pay the teachers? They are young doctors and come from different backgrounds,” CJI Chandrachud told Balasubramanium.
The senior lawyer said the survival of the college needs to be considered and informed that the state fee regulatory commission of Delhi has reduced the fees of the college from Rs 4,32,000 to 3,20,000.
Responding to this, the bench compared the rates of stipend in other government medical colleges and asked the petitioners how much stipend they were expecting. In response, the counsel for the petitioner Advocate Charu Mathur replied, "Rs 25,000".
The bench, after comparing different amounts of stipend paid by other medical colleges, directed the ACMS to start paying Rs 25,000 per month from October 1 to its interns.
"The interns are required to be paid stipend during the period of internship. Mandate of regulations adopted by the NMC cannot be breached", the bench stated in its order.
Taking into account that the college is being run by a welfare society for the children of Army personnel, the bench gave the institution liberty to approach the Fee Regulatory Committee in Delhi with a representation of likely financial impact of the Court’s directions.
It said that the fee regulatory committee shall determine whether enhancement of fees of students of the college is necessary to meet the additional expenditure on account of payment of stipend.
Also Read: NMC warns private medical colleges over non payment of stipend to 2110 PG medicos
As per the latest media report by Live Law, in respect of the students who have already completed the internship in the immediately previous batch, the Court said that it is included to fix a lump sum payment.
At this outset, Advocate Vaibhav Gagghar, appearing for students seeking stipend said 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 directed NMC'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.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that an online survey conducted by NMC, in which 10,178 responses were received from PG medical students, revealed that altogether 2110 PG students of various private medical colleges across the country were not receiving any stipend.
While 4288 students stated that they were not being paid equal stipend with the students of government medical colleges in the respective states, 1228 students submitted that the stipend paid to them by colleges/institutes is taken back by the management.
Taking note of this, the Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of NMC had warned the private medical colleges to pay stipend to postgraduate medical students in compliance with Regulation 13 of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000.
Earlier, NMC decided to conduct an online survey regarding the amount of stipend paid to the intern and resident doctors belonging to the private medical colleges across the country. NMC took this decision to comply with the directions issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in this regard.
NHRC took cognisance of the matter after a student of Malabar Medical College, Kozhikode filed a complaint and alleged that the House Surgeons are paid inadequate stipend, in violation of Government order.
