The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed the Union Health Ministry to take “appropriate action” for the non-payment of stipends by medical colleges, including government institutions, to their interns and postgraduate residents, who sometimes work 20 hours a day without any financial compensation.

The directive comes as 60 of the over 500 medical colleges have failed to pay their undergraduate interns, postgraduate residents, and senior residents stipends. While 33 are government institutes, the rest are private, stated a report by The New Indian Express.

However, despite the mandate, the National Medical Commission has yet to take action. In fact, the NMC has brushed off its responsibility and instead blamed the states that are housing errant medical colleges. The Health Ministry has also been evasive on the issue. The PMO’s directive came in response to an RTI filed by Kerala-based activist Dr KV Babu, who has been pursuing the matter for two years and has filed several RTIs, stated the report by The New Indian Express.

The PMO said, “Redressal of grievance is under the purview of appropriate authority dealing with subject-specific. Therefore, the information sought relates to the authority concerned to which the complaint was forwarded.”

Dr Babu said, “Here is a peculiar situation, and hence, I have made the request to the PMO. The State Medical Councils have no jurisdiction on this issue, and the NMC has failed to take action, while the Health Ministry has been evasive.”