Central Govt raises stipend of medical interns by `6 K

New Delhi: Sharing the New Year Greetings, Union Health Ministry sends a memorandum that confirmed that interns working in Delhi's Lady Hardinge Medical College, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi-AIIMS, VMMC –Safdarjung Hospital will get `23,500 stipend from January 1. "Interns working in Central Government-run hospitals across India will now get a stipend of `23,500, which is an increase of `6,000. Earlier, these interns were getting a stipend of `17,500," said an offical at Safdarjung Hospital.

Dr Sumedh Sandhanshiv, President, FORDA-India, said that this is indeed a New Year gift to interns who dedicate their services to patient care.

An office memorandum issued recently by India's health ministry has confirmed that interns working in Delhi's Lady Hardinge Medical College, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi-AIIMS, VMMC –Safdarjung Hospital and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences will get `23,500 stipend from January 1, 2019.

The memorandum has been signed by DVK Rao, Under Secretary, Government of India. A copy of this memorandum has also been sent to the directors of all AIIMS and principals of medical colleges in other states.

They learn a lot during internship but the stipend that they were getting (`17,000) was not enough. Several demand letters regarding increase in stipend were communicated with concerned authorities which later paid results and much awaited increase of stipend has been done. We thank the health ministry for this move, added Dr Sandhanshiv.

Dr Neeraj Yadav, who has recently completed his internship from Delhi's Maulana Azad Medical College, said: "Internship includes periodic duties in emergency, OPDs and wards. It includes 15 days duty in emergency, two months duty each in surgery, medicine, community medicine, gynecology, one month in orthopedic, 15

days in ENT and ophthalmology each."