Medical students hold stir for stipend hike in Amritsar

INTERNS OF MEDICAL COLLEGES IN PUNJAB ARE PAID ₹9,000 A MONTH DURING THEIR YEAR-LONG INTERNSHIP

AMRITSAR: Demanding increment in their monthly stipend, over 150 students and interns of Government Medical College (GMC) staged a protest here on Wednesday.

They raised slogans against the state government and smeared black paint on an effigy representing the establishment. They threatened to intensify their stir if their demand was not met.

The protesters alleged that the government knew they were getting insufficient stipend, but it was not responding to their “genuine” demands.

Describing the sorry state of affairs, students’ association president Dr Vaibhav Chawla said, “The interns of medical colleges in Punjab are paid ₹9,000 monthly during their year-long internship.”

“For the last 10 years, the state government has not increased the stipend, but hiked the fee twice in four years. The monthly stipend offered to medical students in Punjab is the lowest in the country,” Chawla said.

‘MANAGEMENT THREATENING

STUDENTS IN PATIALA’

He added, “The students of Government Medical College, Patiala, are being threatened by the management. Its principal has issued a notice to the students that if they will protest against the state government, they will be marked absent from their duties and their stipend will be deducted. The college authorities acknowledge that our claim for stipend hike is legitimate and fair, but they are still asking us to back down.”

The agitators said they were in full support of protesting students of Amritsar and Faridkot government medical colleges and would not tolerate any injustice.