Thiruvananthapuram
The issue of non-payment of house surgeons’ stipend, as stipulated by the government, by private self-financing medical colleges in the State has come one full circle again with the Travancore Cochin Medical Council (TCMC) now asking the State government to look into the issue again.
The TCMC, which had been petitioned in 2016 regarding the non-payment of the stipulated stipend, had earlier tried to push the matter to the Medical Council of India . But with the MCI pointing out that the matter did not come within its purview, the TCMC has now put the ball firmly back in the government’s court as to what may be done regarding the complaints of non-payment of stipend by private self-financing medical colleges.
The government had issued an order in June 2015 hiking the monthly stipend of house surgeons in all government, private and self-financing medical colleges in the State from Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 with effect from April 2015.
In May 2016, 100-odd house surgeons at Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College and Hospital at Karakonam went on a prolonged strike pointing out that they were being paid just Rs3,975 a month as stipend, while the management was legally bound to pay the students a stipend of Rs20,000, as fixed by the government. The students’ strike had brought attention to the fact that most private medical colleges in the State were not paying the legally stipulated stipend to house surgeons.
Following the strike, K. V. Babu, a physician based in Payyannur and a public health activist, had raised the issue with the TCMC. He had pointed out that the Director of the Karakonam medical college had committed professional misconduct by denying house surgeons the legitimate stipend fixed by the government. Dr. Babu also pointed out that this was a violation of 2002 MCI ethics regulations 1.1.2, 1.9 and 8.1 (violation of legal restrictions clauses).
The TCMC, which sat on the complaint for several months, had referred the matter to the MCI. The MCI wrote back to the TCMC in September last year that the non-payment of stipend was not something within its purview
“It is now up to the government to see that the order regarding house surgeons’ stipend is implemented by private medical colleges in the State.
House surgeons in these institutions even now continue to be paid in the range of Rs3,000-Rs12,000 as stipend even though they are doing same work as that of their counterparts in government medical colleges. For those from affluent families, this may not be a problem but for many students who had secured admission under government quota, this stipend is very important,” Dr. Babu points out.
EOM
