JOIN USAre you a resident doctor? This is the best state for you to practice
With the worsening coronavirus situation in the country, frontliners are putting their best foot forward to make sure everyone is safe. Among these frontliners, resident doctors and interns attend to COVID-19 patients for hours daily. Their salary, however, depends on the state that they are serving.
According to a report by The Times of India, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar pay resident doctors the most, whereas, they are paid the worst in Maharashtra at different levels in state government-run hospitals.
UP, Bihar and Haryana pay resident doctors around Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh a month while Maharashtra and southern states pay them a monthly stipend of Rs 40,000-Rs 60,000. The Medical Council of India plans to have uniform stipend after the completion of MBBS across the country. However, the plan is still on the table.
On the other hand, interns posted in Central government hospitals are paid the highest per month. But in state-run hospitals, their stipend varies from Rs 7,000 in Rajasthan to Rs 30,000 in Karnataka, the TOI report stated.
Maharashtra, however, is among the states that pays the lowest stipend to medical interns. Earlier, the state used to pay Rs 6,000 which was recently raised to Rs 11,000. Apart from that, resident doctors in the state also pay tuition fees to hospitals for training, according to the report.
"Even after the recent hike of Rs 5,000, the state is among the ones paying the lowest stipend to medical interns. That has a lot of scope for improvement," Dr. Praveen Shingare, former Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) head told TOI.
Resident doctors and interns across the country have been demanding a hike in their stipend. Recently, in Karnataka, resident doctors warned they would step back from non-COVID-19 duties if the state government refused to consider their request for a hike in stipend.
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