The Supreme Court has sought an explanation from the National Medical Commission (NMC) over the non-payment of stipends to foreign medical graduates in certain medical colleges.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi directed the NMC to file an affidavit detailing the reasons for the delay. The court also directed the Rajasthan government to release pending stipends to eligible students within two weeks.
The court warned that failure to comply with its direction could result in the state secretary being summoned.
During the hearing, counsel for the petitioners presented details of colleges where foreign medical graduates were allegedly not receiving stipends. The petitioners argued that NMC guidelines require parity in stipend payments between Indian and foreign medical graduates performing similar duties.
The NMC had previously informed the court that seven of 756 medical colleges were not paying stipends to interns, junior residents or senior residents. Show-cause notices had been issued to these institutions.
The case was filed by medical graduate Abhishek Yadav and others seeking payment of stipends to medical graduates. The Supreme Court had earlier noted that its September 2023 order mandated a monthly stipend of ₹25,000 for interns from October 2023, while a previous batch had not received the benefit.
The matter has been listed for further hearing after two weeks.