MBBS interns at government medical colleges in at least 14 districts across Uttar Pradesh have been boycotting their hospital duties for the last four days to demand a higher stipend.
Intern doctors – who are given hospital duties after cracking NEET-UG and completing four years of MBBS – get Rs 12,000 as stipend in UP, the lowest across all states. A 12-month internship is compulsory for the final year students of both private and public colleges to be eligible for the MBBS degree.
About 3,800 intern doctors began the protest on Monday across at least 16 government colleges, saying that Rs 400 per day as stipend is less than the wage of even “unskilled workers”.
Interns of Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences in Saifai of Etawah district also wrote a letter to university vice-chancellor Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Dr Singh told Newslaundry that the varsity “management has nothing to do with it” and the protesting interns are being marked absent. Newslaundry also sent queries on the matter to the CM’s office. This report will be updated on receiving a response.
Demand for stipend revision or ‘uniform stipend policy’
The All India Medical Students’ Association also extended its support to the protesting interns and wrote to CM Yogi and UP health minister Brijesh Pathak, demanding a stipend hike.
Dr Jitendra Singh, the national president of the association, told Newslaundry that “we are demanding an amount of Rs 1,000 per day, and Rs 30,000 in a month. If the government does not fulfil our demand in the next seven days, there’ll be pan-India protests of interns as well as doctors. UP has more work load, and interns should be paid accordingly”. He is also set to meet health minister Pathak over the demands.
Medical interns in Karnataka get Rs 32,000 as stipend per month, those in Assam get Rs 30,000, while it is Rs 28,000 in West Bengal, Rs 28,000 in Odisha, Rs 26,300 in Delhi, and Rs 20,000 in Bihar.
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Strikes by government employees are banned under the Essential Services Maintenance Act. The UP government had invoked ESMA in February in the wake of farm protests, and it’s set to stay in place for six months. However, the law is not applicable for interns, said Singh.
The Indian Medical Association has also extended its support to the protestors for a “uniform stipend policy” across the country, said Dr RV Asokan, national president of IMA.
Speaking to Newslaundry, he said, “IMA stands with the students, who have been left with no choice but to protest and boycott their work. Government must call interns for a dialogue and if they have a genuine demand then fulfil it. IMA gives their complete support to the interns. We are in favour of uniform stipend across the country, including private colleges.”
On July 17, Rohit Singh, ABVP Awadh joint secretary and PhD candidate at Lucknow’s King George's Medical University, met deputy CM and UP health minister Brijesh Pathak over the demand that the MBBS interns’ stipend be revised. The latter posted a picture of the meeting on his Facebook account but he is yet to take any action.
Newslaundry sent queries over the matter to Pathak, the state’s principal secretary of medical health Partha Sarathi Sen Sharma, and the family welfare department. This report will be updated on receiving their response.
‘Haven’t received stipend in three months’
Raunak Yadav, another MBBS intern from the same Saifai college, said that he took a loan for his college fees, “expecting to get a decent stipend” and salary.
The son of a farmer, Yadav said his father is paralysed and he has four siblings who are studying. “My family has been somehow managing to send my pocket money for the last four years. Now, after joining as an intern, how can I ask them for more money? At this point, they expect me to help them. I have siblings in their crucial years of education.”
“Managing all my expenses in Rs 12,000 is not possible as everything is getting expensive,” said the intern, adding that he “hasn’t even received the stipend amount” after starting his internship over three months back.
“I’m also preparing for my NEET PG exam. Books, coaching, and study material for that are very expensive. And we have a hectic schedule. I barely get time to study. With our protest and boycott of work, there is additional pressure on doctors too. There are 200 interns in our batch, imagine working with 200 less manpower in a hospital where you cater to around 4,000 patients everyday.”
Anubhav Pratap Ojha of GSVM Medical College in Kanpur alleged that the interns who began working in April at their college have not received even a month’s stipend. “Many students of my batchmates are from poor families. They took out a loan to pay their college fee. Now, it is embarrassing to ask for money from our parents.”
He added that high population density could be resulting in higher numbers of patients in Uttar Pradesh, but the states that otherwise see high numbers of patients, such as Kerala and Delhi NCR, also pay the interns accordingly.
Dr Shivani Sharma, an MBBS intern at SN Medical College in Agra told Newslaundry that the “patient load at our hospital is very high. In every department, more than 500 patients come every day”. Sharma alleged while she has been interning for over three months without any leaves, she hasn’t received “a single penny so far”.
She added that the “post-Covid situation has worsened as everything is getting expensive, and people have got corresponding salary hikes but for us the stipend has remained unchanged. It’s very hard to manage our day-to-day life with this much money.” She said that her PG entrance exam coaching alone costs her Rs 45,000 annually, with an additional Rs 15,000 for books.
‘Treated as an employee’ but not paid accordingly
Dhruv, an intern at RML Hospital in Lucknow, said that beyond their usual expenses, MBBS interns at RML suffer further as their hostel is located over 20 kms away from the facility. “Students avail bus shuttle that runs as per their class schedule. But interns have different shift timings and we have to bear our travel expenses, and at night, we are forced to take cabs, which is very expensive.”
He said that an MBBS internship “is not like other internships, we are treated as an employee, bound by and responsible for our work. We know the value of our noble profession and do it dedicatedly.”
Detailing a regular day of an MBBS intern at RML Hospital, Dhruv said that they do an average of eight hour long shifts everyday. “We do routine investigation of patients, file prescriptions, do blood tests, fill forms for blood banks, examine patients in wards, and follow up junior and senior residents and provide them assistance.” He added that they are “on-call duty for 24 hours” and “deserve a decent stipend, to manage our own expenses at least”.
Anamika, an MBBS intern at Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences in Saifai, told Newslaundry that their main expenses include Rs 500 hostel fee and Rs 4,500 for mess, after which only Rs 7,000 is left with them for buying study material, and managing coaching fees, laundry, and clothes. “We are getting less than unskilled labourers after cracking one of the toughest exams of the nation and studying for over four years.”
“On some days, we have to work for 24 hours a day or on all seven days. I barely get time to even study for my post graduation entrance.”
The intern said that her father, the sole bread earner of the family, owns a small shop. “Our parents have invested six or seven years in us, including the NEET UG preparation. But we are still asking them for money to meet our daily expenses. At this age it’s our duty to support our family…My father has to bear the expenses of our other siblings too who are going to college.”
Deeksha Singh of Greater Noida’s Government Institute of Medical Sciences told Newslaundry that she is also facing a similar ordeal.
She added that her father is a government school teacher and she has another sibling, who is also studying. She said that it is “awkward to ask money from parents but we have to take Rs 5,000-10,000 every month. They are already paying for my NEET PG preparation because I cannot afford it”.
Meanwhile, Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh, vice-chancellor of Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences, told Newslaundry that the university management “has nothing to do with it. If they are not coming for the internship, we are marking them absent. The stipend varies from state to state, and there is no uniform rule. Let the government make a decision.”
He said the hospital operations were “not affected by the absence of interns, but they themselves are losing out on learning”.
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