MBBS Interns Cry Foul: It's All Work And No Pay

Medical interns of private colleges are often paid way below than what is mandated by the states concerned…

- Atul Krishna

The month of June has been a tumultuous one for MBBS aspirants. The NEET result was followed by a high-voltage doctors’ protest condemning violence against them in Kolkata. Then came the token protest by resident doctors in Kerala’s government colleges against low stipends. The voices of the protesting MBBS interns of private medical colleges across India over a simmering issue got drowned in all this commotion.

A thankless job

With the poor doctor-to-patient ratio in the country, medical interns often function as cheap labour for medical colleges, sometimes forced to work continuously for over 24 hours. Not only are the working hours exhaustive, the stipends paid across states are also skewed. Assam and West Bengal offer stipends in the range of Rs. 20,000 to 21,000 per month while in Uttrakhand, it comes down to just Rs. 8,000.

Except for those interns in a few states in north India where the doctor-patient ratio is satisfactory, medical interns in the rest of the country can barely catch their breath. Those who wish to pursue their postgraduation often have to take a year off to prepare for their entrance exams, since studying during the internship is almost an unthinkable task. The skewed doctor-patient ratio of 0.62 doctors to 1000 people according to the National Health Profile 2018 and the lack of resident doctors in some colleges add to the workload of the interns.

A prickly issue