Supreme Court seeks NMC response on plea over stipend to FMGs

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court has sought the response of the National Medical Commission (NMC) on a plea alleging non-payment of stipend to foreign medical graduates during their internship from a Bhopal medical college. A bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K Vinod Chandran noted the submissions of advocate Tanvi Dubey, appearing for MBBS Akash Udayakumar and others, arguing such students interning at the Mahaveer Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh were not paid the stipend.

The bench issued notice to the medical college and posted the hearing in July. The plea raised concerns that non-payment of stipend is in “sheer violation” of the fundamental rights of the foreign medical graduates. The duty hours put in by foreign medical graduates and Indian medical graduates were similar, yet the former were not paid any stipend, the plea added.

“Once they come back to their home country, the issues such as non-payment of stipend which they are claiming as a matter of right for the work done by them is a big demotivating factor for them to work,” Dubey said. They already have huge educational loans and also have to bear their basic expenses while pursuing the compulsory medical internship, many of them are not from the same states, she said.

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Such students were victims of circumstances as they were deprived of the basic stipend without any fault on their part, the plea argued. “All the other doctors serving internships are being provided with compulsory stipend and therefore, the act of the college of not providing the stipend is arbitrary and unjustifiable,” the plea said.