“Why did they disclose the show-cause notice issued to 198 medical colleges on their website if it was sub judice? How will disclosing the stipend paid to interns and PGs affect the court proceedings? Even otherwise, the NMC itself has instructed the medical colleges to upload the details of stipends paid during the 2025 academic year onwards,” he added.Dr. Babu had filed an RTI on December 12, 2024, seeking details of the stipends submitted by 115 government medical colleges and 83 private medical colleges based on the show-cause notice issued by the NMC on November 28, 2024; action taken based on the notice and colleges’ replies; and file notings.In its reply on January 13, the NMC stated, “The matter has been transferred to the legal section UGMEB, NMC, and as per available information, the matter is sub judice.” The Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) determines standards of medical education at the undergraduate level.The NMC listed the names of the institutions on its website, including Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medical College, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences, and Dr. RML Hospital, only after the Supreme Court ordered them to submit the details of the stipends paid to the medical interns and residents.Dr. Babu, who also filed an RTI in 2023 on this matter, said, “In an RTI response in 2023, they refused to share the details of college managements, which took back the stipend paid to 1,228 PGs, invoking third-party information. To date, there is nothing in the public domain about any action taken against those colleges.”In a letter dated November 28 last year, NMC Secretary Dr. B. Srinivas said that the “defaulting medical colleges are directed to furnish the data relating to payment of stipends during 2023-24 on the dedicated email ID stipend23-24@nmc.org.in immediately and within the next 3 days from the issue of this show-cause notice.”
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