BJ Medical College Pune Interns go on indefinite strike over unpaid stipend

Pune: Around 230 medical interns at Pune's BJ Medical College launched an indefinite strike, demanding the immediate release of their unpaid stipends for over three months.

Frustrated by financial hardship and administrative apathy, the interns from the 2020 batch raised concerns over delayed payments, lack of transparency, and systemic negligence, warning of disruptions to patient care if their grievances remained unaddressed.

After initiating the protest over non-payment of stipend, the interns at BJ Medical College, Pune, withdrew their strike after the Dean of the institute promised to release their payment within a week.

TOI has reported that Dean Eknath Pawar also assured the doctors to launch an inquiry against the administration for the delay in disbursement.

The intern doctors from the 2020 batch at BJ Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital commenced an indefinite strike on Monday. They were protesting against the non-payment of stipend for the past three months. The intern doctors at BJMC Pune are paid a stipend of Rs 18,000 per month.

Highlighting that the prolonged delays left them financially distressed, and therefore, the interns had warned of severe disruption in the patient care services if their concerns remained unresolved.

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As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the students submitted a letter to the Dean on Monday and stated that despite repeated attempts to resolve the issue through dialogue and formal inquiries, their concerns were met with apathy, unfulfilled promises, and in some instances, outright disrespect.

Despite starting their internship on April 5, these interns are yet to receive any stipend since then, leading to significant financial hardship. They alleged negligence on the part of the hospital administration and were demanding urgent redressal.

Earlier, the Maharashtra Government had announced a hike in the monthly internship stipend. However, the protesting interns said that they did not receive any payments under the revised structure, or otherwise, since the commencement of their internship, Hindustan Times has reported.

One of the interns told HT on the condition of anonymity, "It’s been over three months since we started working here, but we haven’t received a single rupee. We’re expected to give our best in patient care, but how can we survive without money?"

The interns had threatened to go on an indefinite strike if their demands were not fulfilled by July 18. Due to the strike, the OPD services were affected. However, most of the interns resumed their duties by afternoon, following the meeting with the Dean.

Apart from the issue of stipend, the students also highlighted some specific issues, such as being forced to open bank accounts with Bank of Baroda, prolonged absence of employees in maintaining attendance, interns being blamed for non-submission of attendance details, and the "dismissive attitude" of the dean.

They demanded that the stipend, which was pending since April 2025, must be released immediately and a transparent and efficient system for timely stipend disbursement must be put in place. The Association of State Medical Interns (ASMI) Maharashtra, extended its support to the protesting interns.

Commenting on the matter, Dean Dr. Pawar said, "The issue was brought to me for the first time, and I have assured the students that they would receive their pending stipends within a week. These are new batch of students, and many of them do not have enough documents. When I enquired with the administration department, I was told that most students submitted their documents by May-end, so the disbursement could not happen for April and May."

Speaking to TOI, one of the interns said, "We met the dean on Tuesday, and he assured us that the stipends of all three months, from April, would be disbursed before July 18. He also said that he would investigate the delay in disbursing the stipend. Many of the doctors are dependent on this stipend not only for their own needs but also for sending money to their families."

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