Ernakulam Government Medical College holds back stipend of house surgeons, PG students

KOCHI: House surgeons and PG students at the Ernakulam Government Medical College are a harried lot as they have not got the stipend they are entitled to for two months. The funds are available with the college but the order from the DME is yet to come which has prevented the college from paying the money. The house surgeons are entitled to a stipend of Rs 15,000 per month.

The 11 PG students at the college in medicine, gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and pathology are entitled to Rs 35,000 each per month. When contacted, Medical College Principal Dr Praveen Lal said that '4 crore given by the Government was now with the college but there was a specific instruction from the government that this was not meant for giving salaries to the staff.

“A total of Rs 6 crore was given by the government and Rs 2 crore was used to pay last months’ salary. Now there is Rs 4 crore left in the account,” he said. Dr Praveen Lal also said that there was Rs 1.75 crore in an account which was operated by Special Officer Dr Junaid Rehman.

“He alone was authorized to operate the account, but with him demitting office and the government not issuing any order, we are not in a position to operate it. If it becomes operational, some of the fund crunch can be solved and the stipend also distributed,” Dr Lal said.

Meanwhile, representatives of students from the college met the DME and the Health Minister on Monday with the plea to solve the troubles being encountered in conducting practical exams due to the shortage of qualified faculty. The Minister and DME assured them that they would move to solve the issue, but the students point out that there was limited time left because the first exam was scheduled for October 7.