Interns on strike to increase stipend from Rs100 per day at Lata Mangeshkar Hosp

Interns on strike to increase stipend from Rs100 per day at Lata Mangeshkar Hosp

Aug 24, 2022, 04.56 AM IST

Nagpur: Over 140 intern doctors, who have completed MBBS and now work in full-time patient care at the city’s Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, Nagpur (LMH) and NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences, are getting Rs100 per day as stipend. Moreover, this stipend has also not been paid to them for at least two months. Irked by the negligence of college management, the intern doctors resorted to a strike from Monday.

“All we want is a respectable stipend,” said Ashutosh Ade, who leads the interns in this medical college. “We are not shouting slogans, nor creating obstacles in patient care. We just have withdrawn our services and staging a totally peaceful sit-in dharna,” he added.

Interns feel insulted that they get Rs3,000 per month as a stipend even after completing MBBS degree. “Even daily wage workers and unskilled labourer get more than this,” said Ade, adding that they have followed every necessary step of sending letters, reminders, and ultimatums to management.

“The dean and management are asking us to end the strike and discuss the issue. We want written assurance that our stipends will be revised,” said Sayali Chaudhari, an intern.

TOI spoke to dean Dr Kajal Mitra, who is on sick leave. He said the management committees decide stipends in private medical colleges. The striking interns told TOI that Dr Ashish Deshmukh, treasurer of LMH trust, visited them on Tuesday and appealed to them to withdraw the strike. But interns want some written assurance.

Internship of 12 months is compulsory after completion of MBBS from any medical college. Internship refers to a training program in which an MBBS graduate is able to learn methods and modalities to administer actual practice of medical and health care. However, the salary of an MBBS internship varies from college to college or hospital to hospital. In Maharashtra, GMC interns get Rs11,000 monthly stipend, in AIIMS they get Rs23,500. In private medical colleges, interns at PDMC in Amravati get Rs7,000 per month.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/interns-on-strike-to-increase-stipend-from-rs100-per-day-at-lata-mangeshkar-hosp/articleshow/93739745.cms