Gujarat: Health dept hikes stipend for medical interns by Rs 5,000

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said Saturday the state government has decided to pay an incentive allowance of Rs 5,000 per month with effect from April this year for intern doctors working in hospitals attached to government medical colleges in view of the Covid-19 duty performed by them.

“Gujarat government medical colleges and Gujarat Medical Education & Research Society (GMERS)-run medical colleges, where more than 2,000 intern doctors have been on Covid-19 duty at designated hospitals since April, met health department officials on Saturday and following discussions the state government has decided to increase the monthly stipend of interns by Rs 5,000 to encourage them,” Patel said.

Currently, the monthly stipend for interns across 14 such colleges ranges from Rs 12,800 to Rs 13,000. With the revision, the monthly stipend will now go up to Rs 17,800-Rs 18,000. The hike will apply retrospectively from April 2020 and continue until February 2021.

Nealy 2,000 interns across Gujarat had gone on a strike on December 14 seeking a monthly stipend of at least Rs 20,000, an additional honorarium for the days of Covid-19 ward/patient duty. The interns had also sought that their Covid-19 duty be also counted as a part of the rural tenure, mandatory for government medical college students as part of their medical bond. The students doing internship had also submitted that they have been discharging their duties as “corona warriors” since April in Covid-19 wards in various government hospitals.

An intern of BJ Medical College, affiliated to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, who did not wish to be named, said Saturday, “With respect to the remaining two demands, we were told that ‘those are inappropriate’. They also refused to consider a stipend hike to Rs 20,000. The present hike given is, however, acceptable to us.”