The Supreme Court (SC) Today (April 2nd) ruled that foreign medical graduates should not be treated differently and should receive stipends during their internships, just like Indian MBBS graduates
The Supreme Court(SC) declared that foreign medical graduates must not face differential treatment and deserve to receive stipends during their internships, similar to their counterparts who graduated from Indian MBBS colleges.
A panel consisting of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale acknowledged lawyer Tanvi Dubey’s arguments on behalf of a group of doctors. She pointed out that certain medical colleges are not providing stipends to foreign medical graduates during their internships.
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On Monday, the bench requested the National Medical Commission (NMC) to provide information on the stipend payment status for foreign medical graduates in three colleges: Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College in Vidisha, Dr. Laxminarayan Pandey Government Medical College in Ratlam, and Employees State Insurance Corporation Medical College in Alwar.
The court emphasized the importance of paying stipends and cautioned colleges that if they fail to comply with the earlier order regarding stipend payments, strict measures will be taken.
The court said,
The medical colleges must treat MBBS and foreign medical graduates equally. They asked the NMC and the colleges to respond to this instruction.”
Previously, on January 23, the Supreme Court had asked for responses from both the NMC and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College regarding a plea submitted by five foreign medical graduates, including Sajith SL from Thiruvananthapuram. Several other petitions on the same matter are also pending.
The court considered Dubey’s argument that foreign medical graduates should receive equal treatment to those who completed MBBS from Indian institutions. She highlighted that despite an NMC notification stating they should be treated equally, these students are not receiving their rightful monthly stipends.
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The Plea Stated,
“Grant an appropriate Writ mandating Respondent No.1 (medical college) to ensure consistent monthly stipend payments to the Petitioners and students listed… throughout their entire internship duration.”
It also requested instructions to the NMC and others to establish the stipend amount for these students throughout their internship, aligning with the norms observed by other medical colleges.
These students are presently undergoing their internship at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College in Vidisha.
The plea also mentioned a notice from the Government Medical Education Department of Madhya Pradesh dated November 17, 2022, which stated that interns would receive a stipend of Rs 12,760 starting from April 1, 2022.