Mumbai: The state government has asked the private institutes to pay their MBBS interns Rs18,000 monthly stipend, equal to what their counterparts get in the government-run institutes. The directive comes close on the heels of a plea filed at the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court by interns from a private hospital in Nagpur. They sought parity in the compensation paid during the year-long compulsory rotatory residential internship (CRRI).
In a circular sent to the deans of all private medical colleges in the state on July 10, the director of medical education and research said that a government resolution (GR), issued in February, fixing the stipend for government college interns at Rs18,000 will also be applicable to private institutes.
The order comes more than two years after the National Medical Commission (NMC), the apex regulating body for medical education, notified the rules for CRRI, which, among other things, empowered 'appropriate authorities' to fix the quantum of compensation given to the interns. In December 2023, the commission had issued a circular directing all the state medical education directors to ensure stipend is paid according to the rules.
The issue of disparity in the compensation given to undergraduate interns as well as post-graduates and senior residents has been raging for the past several years. Even as the Supreme Court is hearing a plea on the issue, a group of 13 interns from NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, moved the HC, claiming that they are paid a mere Rs4,000 monthly stipend, much less than the amount given by the government-run institutes.
The petitioners pointed out that there is no amount fixed for medicos at private colleges and hospitals despite the government's February GR. This, according to the students, has resulted in a significant variation in the stipend at various institutes. After hearing their plea, a bench of justices Nitin Sambare and Abhay Mantri last week sought the response of the college, the state government as well as the NMC.
The plea relies on an interim order of SC, issued in October 2023, directing the Army College of Medical Sciences in New Delhi to pay Rs25,000 per month to its MBBS interns. The issue was brought to the SC's notice by the Army College interns, who claimed that they weren't paid any stipend. It was also alleged that almost 70% of the medical colleges were not paying an equitable stipend.
Subsequently, the SC has instructed the NMC to file a tabulated chart and explain whether the allegation of non-payment of stipend by 70% of the medical college was correct or not. The commission was also asked if it took any measures to ensure that the interns are paid. However, in April this year, the court observed that the findings submitted by the NMC were not complete. The top court directed it to submit the details of the stipend paid to interns by medical colleges in all states within four weeks.
