The Supreme Court on October 15 expressed its qualms regarding the non-payment of stipends to the medical interns of the country. The bench that consisted of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra heard a plea filed by the students who have completed their MBBS from the Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS), New Delhi.
EdexLive spoke to two of the petitioners, namely, Dr Abhishek Yadav and Dr Dheeraj Mahla, former students of the ACMS, and inquired about the circumstances that led to the filing of the petition. To this, they replied that the paucity of funds, and the non-payment of stipend certainly had crippled their want to fight for their rights but with funds collected from the other doctors and with the guidance of Advocate Tanvi Dubey and Advocate Charu Mathur, they were able to accomplish this feat.
The internships of the students commenced on April 1, 2022, but they say that they had received no money for it. "We sent letters to the governing bodies and other authorities such as the National Medical Commission (NMC), the Delhi Government, to former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia and also to the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES)," they said. They also alleged that they again received no response and hence, they had to approach the apex court.
The doctors added that the students had also met with the chairman of the AWES only to be given verbal assurances, that were never fulfilled.
Their saga of struggle started on September 30, 2022, with hearings being scheduled in the lower courts. "Many doctors provided their service during the pandemic for three to four months straight and yet were paid only a sum of Rs 10,000 in cumulative," said the duo.
For Dr Abhishek and Dr Dheeraj, their internship ended on March 31, 2023, with no payment received for their duties.
Demands
The doctors allege that although this norm existed, it hasn't been followed properly and several colleges openly flout the regulations stating several reasons.
Dr Yadav and Dr Mahla state that the NMC should now fix strict guidelines regarding the payment of stipends by the government as well as private medical colleges and a vigilance in its strict adherence to the norms. They also demand that NMC should be responsive enough and address the grievances of these medical students more promptly.
They also add that they should fix the pay scale of the interns working at colleges of different states, and make sure that there is no disparity in the pay or any discriminatory policies regarding the same. "It will not be justifiable if a student in a few states are paid Rs 5,000 and in another state they get paid Rs 30,000," said Dr Abhishek and Dr Dheeraj.
For now, they say that the judgment brought a change as the erstwhile interns at ACMS are being paid the stipulated amount as ordered by the Supreme Court. "Such incidents happening in the capital of the country are deplorable and should be rectified as soon as possible," said Abhishek and Dheeraj.
More about the petition and hearing
The plea that the bench heard implicated that 70 per cent of the medical colleges do not pay any stipend at all or are not paying the minimum set stipend to the doctors who are pursuing their compulsory medical internships. The remark made by CJI Chandrachud terming these unpaid doctors as "bonded labourers" underscored the plight of these medical students.
The CJI added, "These are all students who have finished four years... What is NMC doing? They allow big colleges to take crores and these poor students who work 20 hours a day, they are not paid at all."
In another hearing that took place before it on September 15, 2023, the NMC was directed to respond to a complaint of the non-payment of the minimum stipend or zero payment by the majority of the medical colleges, and file a tabulated chart of colleges and list which are paying the stipend and which are not, according to a PTI report. In the same session, the top court had directed the ACMS to pay Rs 25,000 as stipends to its MBBS interns from October 1, 2023.
The bench further said that the NMC'S mandate cannot be breached and the interns who come from different backgrounds are to be paid the stipend for the period of internship.
NMC guidelines
According to the notification in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4, issued on November 18, 2021, under the subsection clause 3, Schedule-IV of the Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship Regulations 2021, it is deemed that "All interns shall be paid stipend as fixed by the appropriate authority applicable to the institution/University or State," and it shall be paid for the entire internship may be for fifty-two weeks only.
But according to Advocate Vaibhav Gagghar representing the students, a recent NMC report stated that 70 percent of the medical colleges in the country are not paying stipends to their interns. The bench later gave the decision that interns should be paid an amount of Rs 25,000 per month from October 1.
Breaking the bondage
Five MBBS students who studied at ACMS established by AWES and affiliated to the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (IP) sought stipends to be paid to students for the period of their internships. The petition filed by the students said, "The petitioners are thoroughly aggrieved by the arbitrary act on part of the respondents on not providing them with a monthly stipend during the period of their one year internship."
The petition mentioned that the other medical colleges affiliated to IP University provided regular stipends to the candidates. For instance, the Vardhman Mahavir Medical College or the Safdarjung Hospital provided their interns with Rs 27,000, the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College or the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical Hospital paid Rs 25000, the NDMC Medical College or the Hindu Rao Hospital paid Rs 24,000, respectively, while the ACMS paid nothing to the interns.
The petition further retains the point of the "artificial divide" created and the disparity the students have had to face.
