Private medical college MBBS students to be paid during internship

The Medical Council of India has ruled that MBBS students in private medical colleges will be eligible for a stipend during their internship period. Currently, only the MBBS interns from government medical colleges are paid a stipend for the one year internship period after they complete their fifth year of the MBBS course. The decision was taken by the Medical Council of India in order to benefit nearly 40,000 medics.

The Board of Governors at the Medical Council of India had recently given its approval to the proposal. As per reports, the other formalities regarding the proposal are likely to be completed soon. A senior member at the Medical Council of India Board of Directors said that the proposal was brought in with an aim to end the disparity between students in the private and government medical colleges.

The medical students in the private medical colleges have been demanding that they too are paid during the internship period. There are close to 240 private medical colleges in the country with the highest number of colleges located in Maharashtra and five of the southern states of the country.

The official at the Medical Council of India has also clarified that it has been decided that if a student from a private medical college completes an internship at the hospital of the same college then the hospital will have to pay the student a stipend. However, in case the students pursue internship from another hospital then they will not be eligible for the stipend.