Foreign medical graduates in Tamil Nadu to receive Rs 25,000 stipend during CRRI, says GO

Foreign medical graduates in Tamil Nadu to receive Rs 25,000 stipend during CRRI, says GO

Financial concerns of the government prevented the state from waving off the joining fee of Rs 2 lakh

Mrittika Banerjee

Edex Live

Pic: EdexLive

Here’s some good news for the foreign medical graduates in Tamil Nadu waiting to complete their Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship (CRRI) as the state government has released the order on November 22, 2022, for the fee waiver. The state government complied with the demands put forth by the FMGs. The order dated November 22, stated that, “...all the Foreign Medical Graduates/Indian Medical graduates pursuing Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship shall be paid with the stipend at the rate of Rs 25,270/- per month during the year 2022-2023. There will be an automatic 3% annual increase in subsequent years for Foreign Medical Graduates similar to the regular Compulsory Medical Rotatory Internships.” Since two lakh joining fees couldn’t be waived off by the government, the notice also stated, “If the aspiring Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship trainee is not able to pay…Rs 2,00,00 upfront…charges shall be deducted from their stipend in 12 instalments…”

In a meeting held on November 21 with the FMGs; Dr Senthil Kumar, Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Medical Students’ Association (TNMSA) and Tamil Nadu's Principal Secretary of Health & Family Welfare, P Senthil Kumar IAS, the state government had promised that the government order would be published within the week following several protests. The state government adhered to its assurance and met most of the demands made by the FMGs.

Demand fulfilled

The university fees have been reduced to Rs 29,000 which previously used to be Rs 3.54 lakh. Earlier, there was no stipend but now, a stipend of Rs 25,750 will be given to the FMGs doing their CRRI. The joining fee of Rs 2 lakh has not been waived off by the government owing to genuine financial reasons.

Dr Senthil Kumar said, “They could not get approval for the fees of Rs 2 lakh for genuine financial reasons and for medical graduates who will be unable to pay the fees, Rs 18,000 from the monthly stipend of Rs 27,750 will be deducted for 12 months.” This means that FMGs who cannot pay Rs 2 lakh as fees will receive Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 as their monthly stipend. Dr Kumar also added, “Even though all our demands were not met, we are still satisfied with the government’s order.”

Let’s refresh

In order to finish their CRRI at government medical institutes, FMGs had to pay Rs 2 lakh in fees for a no-objection certificate. The National Medical Commission, however, published guidelines for the registration of Foreign Medical Graduates on March 4, 2022, making it clear that they cannot be charged for their CRRI training and that they will also receive the same stipend and other benefits as Indian medical graduates. The decision helped the FMGs since it reduced the load on those FMGs who did not receive compensation for their labour. The Tamil Nadu government announced a 90% deduction in the fees in response to the notice issued by the NMC, however, until now, the state government did not issue any official order.