More than a year after issuing a public notice that proposed uniform stipend for medical interns in private and government medical colleges, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is yet to issue a gazette notification for the purpose.
Private medical colleges are being accused of paying meagre amounts to house surgeons and there has been a long-pending demand for uniform stipend for them across medical colleges.
Huge disparity
House surgeons in government medical colleges in Kerala are being given a monthly stipend of ₹25,000. It has been alleged, however, that those in private medical colleges are given stipends in the ₹4,000-₹12,000 range. The stipend for interns in medical institutions run by the Union government is ₹23,500.
K.V. Babu, Kannur-based public health activist, said numerous reminders had been sent to know the current status of the notice issued by Sanjay Srivastava, MCI secretary general, on January 29, 2019. It had said that the board of governors was planning to amend the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education (GME), 1997, to include the following provision: “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 or Central government medical institution in the State or Union Territory where the institution is located.” The board also urged stakeholders to “give their comments or suggestions within 15 days” to bring the above amendment in regulations.
Dr. Babu pointed out that the Travancore-Cochin Medical Council had earlier claimed that the issue was not under its purview. It was transferred to the MCI. On September 26, 2017, the MCI executive too pointed out that GME regulations “did not provide for payment of stipend to interns and the issue is beyond our purview”.