SC agrees to hear plea seeking stipend for foreign medical graduates in Gujarat

SC agrees to hear plea seeking stipend for foreign medical graduates in Gujarat

New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the National Medical Commission and others on a plea concerning the non-payment of stipend to foreign medical graduates undergoing internship in Gujarat.

SC agrees to hear plea seeking stipend for foreign medical graduates in Gujarat

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Prasanna B Varale agreed to hear the plea filed by the All India Parents Association Belarus Medical Students and issued notices to the NMC and others, including the Gujarat government.

The plea, filed through advocate Tanvi Dubey, said the refusal to pay stipend not only violates statutory obligations but also exacerbates the economic vulnerability of foreign medical graduates.

"It is humbly submitted that the FMGs have already spent 4-6 years of their lives on their medical education and now when they returned to their respective country to contribute back, such administrative issues are hampering their motivation and making their qualification of no use," the plea said.

The bench, which issued notice on the plea, tagged it with separate pending petitions raising a similar issue.

The plea said the provision for the stipend is governed by Clause 3 of the National Medical Commission Regulations, 2021.

It said the NMC has issued successive circulars in 2022 and 2023 reiterating that foreign medical graduates are entitled to a stipend at par with Indian medical graduates.

"It is pertinent to mention that the duty hours put in by the FMG is similar to the Indian medical graduates. It is further pertinent to note that FMGs from different medical colleges are getting stipends during their internships," it said.

The plea said FMGs are incurring all the expenses, such as food, accommodation and travel, on their own account without any stipend whatsoever.

"This is a catch-22 situation for them since they have no other option but to continue their internship on their own expenses," it said.

The plea said the petitioner association had addressed a detailed representation to the state authority, highlighting that FMGs were being denied stipend and coerced into signing undertakings that they would not claim stipend.

It said subsequent representations, including to the chief minister in April, were also made.

The plea said consequent directions were issued by the chief minister's office in June and July to the principal secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department to take necessary action.

It claimed that despite such directions, no remedial action has been taken by the concerned authorities.

The plea has sought a direction to the authorities to provide a regular monthly stipend for the entire period of their internship with retrospective effect to the foreign medical graduates interning in the colleges which are under the Gujarat Medical Council and the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society.

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