Pay stipend to interns from Oct 1: SC tells Delhi-based army medical college
The Court was hearing a petition filed by doctors who graduated from ACMS in March this year after completing the mandatory one-year internship by serving at the Army base hospital
Stating that no medical college can deny a stipend to interns, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the Delhi-based Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS) to pay a monthly stipend of Rs.25,000 to the current batch of interns beginning October 1.
The top court also asked the National Medical Commission (NMC), the apex governing body of medical education, to look into allegations that 70% of medical colleges in the country not paying mandatory stipends to MBBS interns.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by doctors who graduated from ACMS in March this year after completing the mandatory one-year internship by serving at the Army base hospital.
The petitioners questioned the denial of stipend by the ACMS since its establishment in 2008 and said that other medical colleges in Delhi were offering stipend to final year MBBS students ranging from Rs.24,000 to Rs.27,000.
Hearing the petition, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said, “How can any medical college say we will not pay our interns? You cannot extract work from young doctors by saying we are a non-profit college.”
Advocates Charu Mathur and Vaibhav Gaggar appearing for the petitioners informed the Court about the (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations, 2021 that entitles young doctors to a regular stipend.
The petitioners’ lawyers informed the bench that nearly 70% of the medical colleges in the country do not pay or pass less stipend.
The bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, “The mandate of regulations adopted by NMC cannot be breached,” and went on to direct the ACMS to pay a monthly stipend of ₹25,000 to each of the interns from October 1 onwards.
The Court further directed NMC counsel Gaurav Sharma to verify this fact and file a response on steps taken to ensure the stipend rule is observed by all colleges and posted the matter for hearing after four weeks.
The ACMS represented by senior advocate R Balasubramanian pointed out that ACMS is a self-financed private medical college and is neither a government-run college nor an aided institution.
He said that the college is functioning under the aegis of the Army Welfare Education Society, which is a non-commercial venture set up to impart medical education to deserving children of Army personnel including war widows and veterans.
The bench said, “Because you are a non-profit body, will you say that we won’t pay our safai karamcharis (sweepers)? You have our full support and sympathy but you must start paying stipends to your interns.”
To offset the financial burden on account of this additional payout, the Court permitted the ACMS to approach the state fee regulatory authority to hike the fees and asked the authorities to consider the request of the ACMS considering that the education fees and hostel facilities are heavily subsidized.
Advocate Balasubramanian informed the Court that last year the fees charged from students were reduced from a nominal ₹4.32 lakh annually to ₹3.20 lakh and to meet the teaching demands of the faculty, serving Army doctors conduct classes to provide training and expertise to the students.
“We are not against our students but we need to look at our financial health,” Balasubramanian said, requesting the Court to allow him to consult the higher officials in the Army to come back with a solution.
However, the bench noted that most of the interning students are not residents of Delhi and need to take care of their accommodation, food and other expenses while doing the internship.
