Srinagar, April 14: Kashmir’s Foreign Medical Graduates (FMG) who currently work as interns in medical colleges throughout Jammu and Kashmir are seeking stipends equivalent to that of Indian Medical Graduates (IMGs).
The FMGs said that they work at par with the doctors in hospitals and medical colleges but despite that they do not get their stipend which they said is against the democratic rights.
“Not getting stipend is against the directions of the Supreme Court and National Medical Commission (NMC). We want the govt. to give us fare compensation very soon as we have been moving from pillar to post for the past one year,” said one of the medicos.
He said that they have visited many government offices saying that they have been told that the government has no policy for the FMGs and they suffer due to the same.
“They have been completely neglecting our batch. Maybe they might do it from the next batch but they are not willing to do it for our batch. If they had no policy then they should have told us not to work there,” he said.
They said that despite completing their MBBS studies abroad, they contribute equally to the workload alongside their counterparts. However, they are not receiving the stipend.
Majid Shafi, who is doing internship in GMC Doda, said there are nearly 500 students who do their internships across Jammu and Kashmir and on the basis of NMC norms they were sent to different places for the internship purpose.
“We do not get the stipend. We request Lieutenant Governor and Secretary Health and Medical Education Department to give us stipend and we are about to complete our internship of one year. We want fare compensation within a particular time,” he said.
The FMGs underscored their discontent with the administration’s promises of a prolonged process, insisting on immediate action.
They clarified that their demand is not for additional privileges but for what is rightfully theirs. Comparing their situation with FMGs in Assam who receive a stipend of Rs 30,000, they lamented the reluctance of authorities to provide even Rs 12,000.
However, a senior official of the Health Department said when the FMG started their internships in medical colleges they had given in writing that they wouldn’t ask for stipend as they were told about lack of financial resources.
