Stipends Elude Interns, Residents at Pvt Medical Colleges

Hyderabad: While resident doctors at government medical colleges have not received their stipends for March yet, house surgeons and residents in private medical institutions have complained that most of the colleges do not pay stipends at all.

Moreover, there are cases where colleges take the stipend amounts from students and use illicit means to show transfer of amounts to students.

Students at many colleges shared that they either don't receive stipends at all or get nominal amounts of Rs 10,000 as residents and a meagre Rs 2,000 as interns. In Kamineni Hospital, residents get Rs 35,000, Malla Reddy pays Rs 15,000, and Apollo and Bhaskar pay Rs 10,000 each. Many other colleges, such as Mamata Medical College, Chalmeda Anand Rao Institute of Medical Sciences and Prathima Medical College, show transfer of amounts to students through bank transactions but take the amounts back.

A complaint was raised by Dr B.V.D. Ashok, pursuing MD radiology in Bhaskar Medical College last year and submitted to all relevant authorities, including Telangana and National Medical Councils, Directorate of Medical Education, Income-Tax, Enforcement Directorate and the health minister of Telangana, but to no avail. "Bhaskar Medical College has failed to pay a stipend to us, which is in violation of the aforesaid regulation. They take blank cheques from students and credit the amounts to show documentation of the amount credited, but later they debit the same amount, leaving only Rs 10,000 per month with students," Ashok said.

In August 2023, the National Medical Commission had shared an advisory on payment of stipends to PG medical students where it had mentioned that as per the Regulation 13.3 of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000 (amended up to May, 2018) issued by the erstwhile Medical Council of India, the Post Graduate students undergoing Post Graduate Degree, Diploma or Super-Specialty course, have to be paid stipend on par with the stipend being paid to Post Graduate students in state or central government-run medical institutions.

The NMC had conducted a preliminary survey across India, where it came to light that around 26% of the private colleges don’t pay stipends to interns and residents. Around 54% were not paying stipends on par with government colleges and 15% of colleges take the amounts back from students.

Telangana government also released GO 59 in 2023, according to which the stipend of a resident ranges from Rs 54,000 to Rs 64,000 per month, and that of an intern is about Rs 25,000 per month.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Chairman of Malla Reddy Health City, Dr Ch. Bhadra Reddy said, "We pay around Rs 4,500 to interns and Rs 20,000 to residents. This is because we are getting only 50% of the fee as directed by AFRC. The fee for a regular MBBS course is Rs 7 lakh per year and Rs 23 lakh per year for management quota students."

As per the website of the institute, the MBBS course fee per year for general seats is Rs 19 lakh, and for PG specialties, goes up to Rs 60 lakh per year. The website mentions stipends for PG residents up to Rs 49,000 per month.

A second-year resident from MNR Medical College, Sangareddy, shared that the college had forced the students to open a bank account in a bank of their choice and asked them to share a signed blank cheque of the same. "Using this, they credit around Rs 55-60,000 in that account every month and then withdraw the same also. In case the cheque bounces or some other issue occurs, they ask the students to pay back in cash. When objected, the college authorities said, “This is how management works," she told Deccan
Chronicle. "With so much hard work, by the end of the day, all we want is our degree and certificate, which the college can hold back if we don't comply by their rules. This is why most students have not raised objections at a larger level," she added.