Hearing a plea stating that 70% of medical colleges do not pay any stipend or are not paying the minimum set stipend to doctors pursuing their MBBS internships, the apex court has granted four weeks time to the National Medical Commission (NMC) to get back, as stated by a tweet by LiveLaw.in. To recall, on September 15, the Supreme Court asked the NMC to address the allegation. 

During the hearing of the plea today, October 16, advocate Gaurav Sharma appearing for NMC asked for four weeks time to file a response, as stated by LiveLaw.in in their tweets. In response to this, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said, "This is like bonded labour. These are all students who have finished 4 years...what is NMC doing? They allow big colleges to take crores and these poor students who work at 20 hrs a day, they're not paid at all."

Further, "Let's wait for NMC's response and then we will see," he added, as per LiveLaw.in. 

Previous hearing

This hearing is in connection to a plea filed by a group of five MBBS students who are pursuing their medical education at the Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS) established by the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) and affiliated with Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and were seeking stipend for their internship.

Additionally, the counsel for the students, Advocate Vaibhav Gagghar, said that a recent report released by the NMC states that 70 per cent of the medical colleges in the country are not paying stipends to their interns.

However, after the hearing on September 15, the court directed Delhi's Army College of Medical Sciences to pay Rs 25,000 as a stipend to its MBBS interns from October 1, 2023, as stated in a report by PTI. And the CJI asked the NMC to respond to the allegation that 70% of the medical colleges in the country are not paying stipends to their interns, as stated in a report by PTI.