Ensure no internship fee is charged from medical graduates; give stipend to FMGs: NMC to states, UTs

NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has urged directorates of medical education; registrars of state and union territory medical councils; and registrars and vice-chancellors of health universities to take necessary action and ensure that medical colleges and institutes do not charge fee from interns, Indian and foreign medical graduates as well as provide stipend and facilities to FMGs equivalent to Indian medical graduates in all states and union territories.

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The Commission has also advised college authorities to adopt more rural centres to accommodate internship training and also provide residential accommodation or transportation facility to and from the centres to the interns for free. NMC observed that a large number of interns are posted in one rural centre while the provision is only for 15 interns.

“It has been brought into the notice of the National Medical Commission through various sources that some medical colleges, institutes across the country are charging internship fee from the interns, Indian and Foreign Medical Graduates for doing their internships in their college or institute and also not paying stipend to them,” said an official notice from NMC.

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NMC in its notification clarified that no internship is charged by the medical college or institute from FMGs and stipend along with facilities that Indian medical graduates get, is given to them at government medical colleges as fixed by the authority.

NMC also listed down regulations for FMGs according to which FMGs are required to undergo internship at par with Indian medical graduates for seeking permanent registration to practice medicine after National Exit Test (NExt) step-1 once the entrance test becomes operational.