Uniform Stipend for MBBS Interns: Health Ministry directs NMC for necessary action on RTI
New Delhi: Forwarding the representation and RTI applications made by activist Dr K V Babu on Uniform Stipend Policy for MBBS interns to the National Medical Commission (NMC), the Union Health Ministry has now asked the Commission to directly provide information to him.
Although Dr. K V Babu had submitted his suggestions on the stipend of MBBS interns to the Apex Medical Body, it had ignored his comments and published the regulations on the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship last year.
Dr Babu had suggested that all the MBBS interns should get stipend on par with interns of the State Government Medical Institution/ Central Government Medical Institution in the State/Union Territory where the institution is located.
Medical Dialogues had been reporting about the issue of stipend disparity and the continuous demands for a Uniform Stipend Policy across India. Even though the erstwhile MCI had introduced the amendments, they could not materialized because MCI got replaced by the National Medical Commission (NMC). Following this, the demands for a uniform stipend policy has been raised by doctors time and again and the MBBS students belonging to private institutes also continued complaining of not getting stipend by their parent institutes. However, nothing has been done yet by the apex medical regulator to solve this issue.
Also Read: NMC cannot trace MCI notice on Uniform Stipend issued 3 years ago, RTI application states
Earlier this year, RTI activist Dr. KV Babu sought to know about this matter in his RTI application filed in January 2022. He especially inquired about MCI notice dated January 25, 2019, where the erstwhile Apex medical regulator had addressed the issue of stipend paid in the private institutes and mentioned that the Board of Governors in Supersession of Medical Council of India were considering to include some provisions in the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997.
The provisions as mentioned in the notice stated, "All the candidates pursuing compulsory rotating internship at the institution from which MBBS course was completed, shall be paid stipend on par with the stipend being paid to the interns of the State Govt. Medical Institution/ Central Government Medical Institution in the State/ Union Territory where the Institution is located."
Even though the public notice aimed at bringing stipend parity is available in the NMC archives, the medical regulator has informed in the RTI reply, "In this regard, it is stated that the previous records/file pertaining to your RTI application could not be traced, despite all possible efforts."
Meanwhile, last year, the UG medical education board of NMC had released the Draft Regulations For Rotational Compulsory Regulations, 2021. Regarding stipend, the Draft mentioned that All Interns shall be paid stipend as fixed by the appropriate fee fixation authority applicable to the Institution/university/ state.
Releasing the Draft on the public domain, NMC had invited comments. Accordingly, Dr. Babu, a Kannur-based ophthalmologist/ RTI activist had submitted his comments in this regard on May 24, 2021, through email.
As per the latest media report by The Hindu, Dr. Babu's suggestion regarding the Clause 6.3 was, "All the candidates pursuing compulsory rotating internship at the institution from which MBBS course was completed shall be paid stipend on par with the stipend being paid to the interns of the State Government Medical Institution/ Central Government Medical Institution in the State/Union Territory where the institution is located."
However, NMC ignored his comments and published the regulations on official Gazette on November 18, 2021. Following this, on April 12, 2022, Dr. Babu filed an RTI and asked NMC if it had received his comments. Accordingly, a reply from the Apex Medical Regulator on April 29 confirmed that his comments had been received.
In another RTI, Dr. Babu had also sought to know about all the comments received on the clause. He had been informed that his comments were the only one received regarding the clause. NMC further informed that 11 comments had been received on other clauses, which had been included in the final notification as well.
The Hindu adds that now, the Union Health Ministry has forwarded the representation of Dr. Babu and the RTI applications filed by him to NMC for "necessary action". In fact, the Health Department has asked NMC to directly provide information to Dr. Babu.
Meanwhile, speaking about the matter to the daily, Dr. Babu informed about his plans of subjecting the concerned notification to legal scrutiny if the government did not add his comments.
