The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the National Medical Commission (NMC) to a plea that almost 70% of the medical colleges do not pay stipend to MBBS interns or pay an amount less than that prescribed in law.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said the NMC should come on record whether the statement in the petition was true and, if so, what steps were taken to ensure that the norms for payment of stipend to the young doctors had been complied with.
The court said the NMC had to provide the information in a tabulated chart in its affidavit.
Senior advocate R. Balasubramaniam, appearing in the case, said the National Human Rights Commission, taking cognisance of the complaints received from students, had in February asked the NMC to conduct a survey of the colleges to verify if the students were paid the prescribed stipend for the hours of hard work they put in.
The NMC (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations of 2021 require medical colleges, including private ones, to pay interns stipends “as fixed by the appropriate authority applicable to the institution or university or State”.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a batch of medical interns who had served in the Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS), run by the Army Welfare Education Society, in Delhi.
Welfare measure
Mr. Balasubramaniam, for the college, said the ACMS was run as a welfare measure for the children of serving and retired Army personnel, and not a commercial venture. It had also recently suffered a college fee cut. The senior lawyer said the college provided facilities to students at a subsidised rate.
However, the court said the mandate of the 2021 Regulations could not be breached and interns had to be paid for their services. “Can you say we will not pay the students because you are non-profit? It may be charity for you, but livelihood for them. We cannot extract work from young doctors and not pay them. Not everyone would have parental support,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said.
In its interim order, the court ordered the college to pay a monthly stipend of ₹25,000 to its interns. The amount was fixed after comparing with the stipend paid by other medical colleges in Delhi.
Noting Mr. Balasubramaniam’s submission that the stipend payment might financially impact the college, the court asked it to approach the State Fee Regulatory Committee in Delhi in a month. The committee may, depending on the case made out by the ACMS, consider enhancement of the college fee. The Bench also suggested giving a lump sum amount to the previous ACMS batch of interns who had approached the apex court.
