New Delhi: India’s apex medical regulator the National Medical Commission (NMC) has warned private colleges against withholding stipends of their postgraduate medical students, after a survey found that over 26 percent of the latter have not been paid.

In an advisory issued Thursday, the NMC warned of “strict action” if provisions of the PG Medical Education Regulations (PGMER), 2000, are violated.

According to PGMER 2000, students pursuing postgraduate, diploma or super-specialty courses have to be paid stipend on par with that paid to by government medical institutions in that particular state. 

The advisory came after a survey conducted by the NMC earlier this year showed that while 26 percent of postgraduate medicine students have received no stipends, 15 percent had to return the stipends given to them. 

It is unclear what year or period the survey is talking about.

The survey was undertaken after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had, in March, written to the NMC ordering it to derecognise private medical institutions that don’t follow regulations. The directive came on the back of a complaint by a medical intern about a private college in Kerala. 

But according to Kannur-based ophthalmologist and Right to Information Activist Dr K.V. Babu, the NMC has given its warning “without even mentioning payment of arrears or derecognising them as instructed by the NHRC”. 

“This is dereliction of duty on the part of the PGMEB (PG Medical Education Board) of the NMC,” he said. “I request the NMC chairman to intervene in the matter & do the needful immediately.” 

ThePrint reached NMC chairman Dr S. C. Sharma for comment via calls. This report will be updated if and when a response is received. 

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What NMC’s survey found

The NMC survey was conducted by its PG Medical Education Board (PGMEB) — the department in charge of postgraduate medical education. The survey was based on responses received from 7,901 postgraduate medical students from 213 private medical colleges across 19 states.  

According to the survey, while 2,110 students had not received any stipend, money given to 1,228 students was taken back by institution managements.

Meanwhile, 4,288 PG doctors, in their responses to the survey, said the stipend they received was less than the one paid in the government institutions in their states.

There are great variations in the stipends received by postgraduate medical students in government medical institutions. For instance, while stipend is Rs 40,000/month in government medical institutions in Himachal Pradesh, those in Delhi get paid over Rs 1.2 lakh/month.

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)

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