Amid MBBS fee hike row, students say they have not received any stipend this year

Around 370 students are owed arrears of Rs 66,000 each

At the time when the state has government has increased the MBBS fee by 80%, students say the government had neglected to pay them stipend this year.

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Students said that around 370 aspiring doctors, who have been working round-the-clock at government hospitals of state in wake of the pandemic had not been paid stipend this year.

“We have been waiting for our stipend for the past six months. Of the three government medical colleges, only students at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, have received their stipend,” said a student of Government Medical College (GMC), Patiala.

Around 220 students at GMC, Patiala, and 150 students at GMC, Amritsar, are interning at the hospitals. Each student is due to receive Rs 66,000.

Before May, MBBS interns had been receiving a stipend of Rs 9,000 a month, which was increased to Rs 15,000 per month.

An MBBS student, who studies at GMC Patiala and is pursuing an internship at Government Rajindra College, said, “On one hand, the government has hiked the MBBS fee, on the other hand it has forgotten to pay us our stipend.”

Calls and messages to Patiala medical college principal Dr Harjinder Singh went unanswered.

Medical education minister OP Soni said, “Nobody from the department informed me of this. I well speak to the officials concerned immediately.”