The monthly stipend for interns from government medical colleges (GMC) in Maharashtra has been raised to Rs 18,000. Up until now, these interns were paid Rs 11,000 a month.
There has been ongoing demand to raise the stipends of intern doctors who claimed that Maharashtra offers the lowest stipends in this regard.
The decision will be applicable from February 2024. This augmented stipend will be applicable to foreign medical graduates (FMGs) who have completed their MBBS outside India and are interning in GMCs in Maharashtra on their return.
Describing it as a relief, Dr. Atharva Shinde, president of the Association of State Medical Interns (ASMI) in Maharashtra, said, “We have been demanding a monthly stipend of Rs 30,000. States like Karnataka and Assam are paying this amount. But we are relieved that with the increased stipend, Maharashtra is at least not the lowest paying state to intern doctors in GMCs.”
Dr Shinde added that their demand was much higher and when the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) submitted the proposal to the state government for the increase, the proposed amount was Rs 22,000. “Finally the state has decided to increase it to Rs 18000 a month. This took almost an entire year. Most of us are going to complete our internship in the coming months. So we accept whatever the raise is.”
In July 2023, ASMI had written a letter to the state government demanding an increase in the stipend paid to intern doctors. The association had complained that the monthly stipend paid to intern doctors in GMCs had not been revised for a long time, whereas the fees for MBBS kept increasing. In the letter the association had shared higher amounts paid by most other states.
“We are not among the high-paying states yet. But we are glad that the state took cognizance of the issue raised by us and increased the monthly stipend,” Dr Shinde said.