SC SAYS : FMGs SHOULD GET STIPENDS FROM INTERNSHIP
NEW DELHI: While considering the issue of foreign medical graduates (FMG) not being paid during their compulsory service period, the Supreme Court said that FMG cannot treatthe difference while working like intern employees and must receive social assistance while working. Bachelor of Medicine in Internal Medicine from Indian Medical College.
The investigation was conducted by the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prasanna Bhalachandra after obtaining the consent of lawyer Tanvi Dubey.It emerged on behalf of the doctors’ group, which includes foreign doctors who graduated from some medical schools. They cannot receive a scholarship during theinternship.
The Medical Advisory has previously reported that the protection provided by FMG is difficult in the event of non-payment of benefits at the time of error. Earlier, whileconsidering the plea of foreign medical graduates working at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College, Vidisha, Justice B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta gave notice on January23.
Defenses were presented for the “Abhishek Yadav & Ors” case. Compare Ordu Medical School to other colleges. (W.P.(C) No.730/2022), during the hearing, the Supreme Courtadmitted that 70% of medical colleges across the country do not pay doctors or give minimum salary
Now, in the case of non-payment of salaries to FMG employees during Monday During the hearing, the Supreme Court ordered the National Medical Commission (NMC) to providethe following details: Our college has been awarded funding allocation for overseas medical students, PTI reported.
The schools are Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College, Vidisha, Dr Laxminarayan Pandey Government Medical College, Ratlam and Employees State Insurance Corporation Medical College, Alwar.
The court said it was paramount that the stipend be paid and warned the colleges that restrictions would be sanctioned if its earlier order to pay the stipend was not complied with.
“Medical colleges cannot treat MBBS and foreign medical graduates differently,” the bench said and asked the NMC and medical colleges to come back with guidelines on the issue.
Earlier, the apex court had on January 23 sought responses from the NMC and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College on a plea filed by five foreign medical graduates including Sajitha SL of Thiruvananthapuram. Several other petitions are also pending on this topic.
The Supreme Court took cognizance of Dubey’s contention that foreign medical graduates should be treated at par with those who did MBBS from Indian institutions.
The lawyer argued that these students are being deprived of their rightful entitlement to a monthly stipend even though the notification issued by the NMC states that they are being treated as Indian medical graduates.
“Issue appropriate summons… directing respondent No. 1 (Medical College) to provide regular monthly stipend to the petitioners and students from the list… for the entire duration of their internship,” the plea said.
It also sought directions to the NMC and others to determine the stipend to be paid to these students throughout their internship as per the standards followed by other medical colleges.
Medical Dialogues had earlier said that the suit was based on circulars dated March 4, 2022 and May 19, 2022 issued by the Apex Medical Commission. The petitioner stated that according to these circulars, the stipend paid to FMG should be equivalent to Indian medical graduates.
Last year, the NMC gave a major relief to foreign medical graduates who want to do their internship in India, clarifying that Indian medical colleges will not charge foreign medical graduates any fees for allowing them to do their internship in India.
In fact, the apex medical regulator has made it clear that FMGs will receive the same stipend and other facilities as Indian medical graduates who are trained in government medical colleges.
These students are currently interning at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College in Vidisha. The plea also referred to a notification dated November 17, 2022 by the Madhya Pradesh government’s medical education department that fixed a stipend of Rs 12,760 for interns with effect from April 1, 2022.
However, the issue of stipends paid to FMGs was again addressed by the NMC last year when it issued clarifications on the implementation of internships for medical graduates from abroad.
Then the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued clarifications regarding the conduct of internships for medical graduates from abroad. President UG Medical Education Board (UGMEB), Dr. Aruna V Vanikar who issued a circular in this regard on 09.05.2023 addressed several issues including important provisions of CRMI Regulation 2021 for FMG, validation for online study by the Commission, applicability of NMC Ordinance dated 28.07.2022 on FMG, residency requirement by FMG for Internship, Completion of FMG Internship Partly in Hospitals and Medical Colleges, Issue Regarding Payment of FMG Stipends and One Time Release to Foreign Medical Graduates for Complete Internship.
Regarding the stipend issue, the NMC mentioned, “The National Medical Commission vide Circular dated 19.05.2022 has requested all Directorates of Medical Education and State Medical Councils to ensure that the Medical Colleges/Institutions do not charge any internship fee from these interns. Indian and foreign medical graduates and scholarship including other facilities is provided by FMG as equivalent to Indian medical graduates in states/UTs.”
“However, in view of requests/statements from various State Governments/UTs/Medical Faculties stating that there was no budgetary provision in their annual budget allocation for providing scholarships to foreign medical graduates, the Commission issued a circular dated 19.10.2022 already clarified, that the amount of stipend to be paid to interns is decided/determined by the relevant authority responsible for the institution/university or the state. The implementation of these guidelines/instructions/advice is solely at the discretion of the concerned State authorities under which the medical faculty/institute falls,” he added.
EDITOR
DR.JASWANTH TANAKLA