ABVP seeks MBBS intern stipend hike from Rs 18,000 to Rs 30,000; civic body promises decision after Diwali

A joint meeting on the stipend of MBBS intern doctors was held in Mumbai between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the civic administration. The ABVP has for the past few months been pursuing several issues concerning MBBS interns in Maharashtra, including their stipend. The meeting was called in that connection.

In a representation to the Chief Minister and the Medical Education Minister, the ABVP has demanded that the monthly stipend of interns at government and aided medical colleges be raised from Rs 18,000 to Rs 30,000. The organisation also wants irregularities over stipends at private medical colleges curbed, and all intern doctors paid the stipend as per the rules.

The meeting on these demands was held in the presence of Harish Bhandirge, chairman of the civic body's public health committee. Deans of Mumbai's medical colleges, student representatives of the colleges concerned and ABVP office-bearers attended.

The ABVP said the meeting discussed in detail the increase in intern stipends as well as the irregularities at private medical colleges. According to the organisation, the municipal corporation administration assured that a proposal would be sent to the department concerned to examine the financial and legal aspects of the demand, and that a decision would be taken on it after Diwali.

The ABVP said that in the final phase of medical education, MBBS interns have to shoulder important responsibilities in direct patient care, emergency services and various medical procedures. Given their work and responsibility in hospitals, the organisation said, the present stipend of Rs 18,000 is too low.

The organisation also said complaints are emerging that interns at private medical colleges do not get their stipends on time and that there are irregularities in them. It therefore asked the government at the meeting to take firm steps to stop these irregularities along with raising the stipend.

ABVP Mumbai metropolitan secretary Abhishek Pawar said: "MBBS intern doctors are an important part of the health system and carry the big responsibility of looking after patients directly in hospitals. Even so, the stipend they get is low compared with their work. The increase from eighteen thousand to thirty thousand rupees is not merely a financial demand; it is a demand for doing proper justice to the work and responsibility of intern doctors."

Pawar further said: "The ABVP has pursued this continuously so that there is a direct meeting with the administration on this issue and the students' concerns reach the departments concerned. This meeting is an important milestone in that effort. But assurances alone will not settle the matter. A firm decision on raising the stipend should be taken after Diwali and implemented. The ABVP will keep pursuing this until the demands are met."