Interns disillusioned, demand urgent action from authorities
Srinagar, Sept 05: The Health and Medical Education Department is delaying the stipend hike of MBBS interns in Jammu and Kashmir’s medical colleges despite a committee recommendation.
The interns from various medical colleges across the Union Territory said they get the lowest stipend of Rs 12,300 per month, which is the lowest in the country’s medical colleges.
A delegation of MBBS interns said it has been more than two years since a committee was formed to look after the issue of stipend enhancement for MBBS and BDS Interns of J&K.
“The committee did recommend a stipend hike in our favour from 12,300 to 25,000, but since then, there has been no conclusive action on the issue,” they said.
Naseer Ahmad, an MBBS intern at one of the medical colleges, said the administration has been delaying the issue for the past two years, and once again, the matter seems to be losing momentum.
“It has been more than one and a half months since the J&K Health Minister Sakina Itoo stated that the issue will be resolved soon. We want to know why there is so much of delay. The government has been neglecting the committee’s recommendation for two years,” he said.
The medical interns said the Finance Department is demanding that 60 per cent of the enhanced stipend should be recovered from the MBBS fee. For a stipend hike of 1,50,000 per year, they want to increase the MBBS fee by over Rs 90,000, which would serve no purpose, they said.
The interns said communiqués sent to Principals by the Health Department since November 2024 have received their replies, and all the GMCs have recommended the stipend hike from Rs 12,300 to Rs 25,000 with a fee hike of 10-20 per cent only.
“We are already in the 3rd month of our internship, and every year the respective batches follow the issue, but to no avail,” Ahmad said.
In October 2024, the interns met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar, who had assured them that there would be no disparity between J&K interns and their counterparts across the country.
Medical interns said the stipend in J&K was last enhanced in January 2019, when J&K was under the Governor’s rule, and till now, they continue to be paid with the lowest stipends.
They said that recently, the Government of Telangana, in a decisive step, enhanced the stipend for MBBS interns to Rs 29,792 per month and for Postgraduate scholars to Rs 67,032 per month, a 15 per cent hike that reflects the state’s recognition of its medical workforce.
“We had high hopes that the recommendations would bring their stipends at par with their counterparts, but the prolonged delay has left them disillusioned,” another intern said. “We worked hard to clear the file from all offices. The delay from the government is shocking. We deserve fair stipends.”
On July 15, Health Minister Sakeena Itoo had stated that “very soon there will be an increase in the stipend of MBBS interns” and that the “file is under process”.
