National Medical Commission again threatens action on med colleges not paying stipend

The National Medical Commission has yet again issued a public notice threatening to take action against medical colleges that do not pay stipends to interns and resident doctors. With no evidence of any action being taken after similar threats in 2023 and 2024, it remains to be seen whether the change in the chairman of the commission leads to action this time.

Three months back, the NMC had threatened to impose Rs 50,000 as penalty on medical colleges which save several crores of rupees every year by not paying stipend. NMC’s regulations stipulate that all medical colleges have to pay interns and resident doctors stipend equivalent to what state government medical colleges are paying.

Just three days before the latest public notice dated July 11, the NMC had issued another notice shifting the responsibility of addressing grievances of medical students to medical colleges, universities and directorates of medical education of the respective states. Yet, the commission itself is now threatening to take action including imposition of financial penalties, withdrawal of course recognition and suspension of admissions.

The latest notice reminded medical colleges that, in keeping with the Supreme Court’s order of April 29, all private and deemed universities must disclose detailed information regarding tuition fees, hostel charges, caution deposits and all miscellaneous charges at the pre-counselling stage. Citing another order of the Supreme Court in 2022 and the commission’s own regulations, it said the payment of stipend was mandatory.

The NMC threatened that non-compliance would attract action under the establishment of Medical Institutions, Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023, Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023 and Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023. It added that these measures to ensure payment of stipend and for disclosure of various kinds of fees well before counselling were “a part of NMC’s commitment to fostering fair, ethical and transparent practices in medical education across the country”.

In April 2023, NMC did a survey among medical college students on stipend being paid to them. An RTI query to NMC revealed that the survey showed that more than 60 colleges were not paying stipend, while about 50 were paying less than Rs 5,000 a month. In August 2023, NMC issued “an advisory” to all colleges regarding payment of stipend. With the Supreme Court cracking down on the NMC regarding non-payment of stipend, in November 2024, the commission issued show cause notices to 198 medical colleges for failing to submit stipend payment data.

NMC has written to colleges threatening “strict action” in August 2023, November 2024 and now on July 11, 2025. Yet, there is no record of any action being taken against any college for non-payment of stipend till now.