Resident doctors fume as BMC cuts TDS

MUMBAI: Around 2,000

resident doctors

attached to

civic-run public hospitals

got a shock on receiving their

monthly stipend

on Friday: over half the sum had been, for the first time ever, deducted in taxes.

“We didn’t get any intimation or notice about

TDS

(tax deducted at source). Moreover, we are now told that a similar cut would be levied next month,” said members of the central committee of the

Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors

(MARD) at a press conference on Saturday. They said resident doctors were students who pay yearly fees and are given a stipend in lieu of the work they do in hospitals. “Resident doctors have a high risk of contracting tuberculosis from patients. Yet when we ask the administration for paid TB or maternity leave, we are told we are not entitled as we are students,’’ MARD president Dr Rajesh Katre said, adding: “Then how can our stipend be taxed?”

Resident doctors are the backbone of every teaching hospital as they virtually work round the clock in patient-care. There are around 5,000 resident doctors across Maharashtra’s teaching hospitals, with half of these in Mumbai. Each gets a stipend of around Rs 50,000 per month.

The TDS drive started in BMC-run colleges, but MARD fears that their colleagues in other colleges too would be forced to pay taxes. “Many resident doctors are in their late twenties, are married and, at time, the only earning members in their families. This has been a shock,” said a doctor at the conference.

MARD said resident doctors in parts of the country had challenged moves to tax them and had won the cases. Dr Alok Singh from KEM Hospital said the

BMC

had taxed them under the provisions of the the Income Tax Act 1922 while it is only applicable to those employed.

When contacted, deputy municipal commissioner Sunil Dhamane said the decision had been taken after deliberations. “However, if the doctors show us the previous judgments, we will study it and discuss.” MARD said it had sent letters to high-level officials in the BMC as well as the state government.