Non-Payment of Stipend to MBBS Interns- Supreme Court to Hear Plea in July
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: The plea challenging non-payment of stipends to MBBS interns will be taken up by the Supreme Court for a hearing in July 2025, Live Law has reported.
As per the Daily, the issue concerning the stipends for doctors undergoing their MBBS internships was raised by the counsel for the petitioners before the Apex Court bench comprising CJI BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih for an urgent hearing.
The counsel informed the bench that the students were not getting any stipend at all. In this regard, the counsel submitted, "The stipend of medical students is not being given; that matter was to be listed before J Dhulia on May 19, but didn't come. Students are getting zero stipend."
Observing that the plea is currently listed before the Supreme Court bench presided by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, the CJI asked, "When is he supposed to sit in vacation?"
Also Read: Non-payment of stipend to MBBS interns: Supreme Court to hear matter tomorrow
Live Law has reported that after being informed that Justice Dhulia's bench is supposed to sit in vacation in July, the CJI assured that the plea would be listed for hearing during the period of partial working days when Justice Dhulia's bench presides in July. "Then we will list it before him," said the CJI.
The issue of non-payment of stipend to medical students was being considered by the Apex Court after the Court took note of an allegation that MBBS interns in 70 percent of the medical colleges in the country were not paid a stipend.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that while considering the matter, the Supreme Court had asked the National Medical Commission (NMC) to respond to the claim by filing an affidavit giving a tabulated chart of colleges that were paying the stipend to the interns and which were not paying.
However, noting that the details submitted by NMC were not of all the medical colleges across all the States, the Apex Court bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale had ordered on April 01, 2024 to submit all the details within four weeks.
Consequently, NMC had asked the medical colleges across the country to submit the details of the stipend paid to their UG Interns, Post-Graduate Residents, and Senior Residents or PGs in Super Specialty for the financial year 2023-24.
The bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K Vinod Chandran is also considering a plea that concerns the issue of non-payment of stipends to the Foreign Medical Graduates during their mandatory internship period.
