PG students on Covid duty want academic fee waived

Resident doctors are up in arms against the government for demanding an academic fee while making them work.

Dr Dayanand Sagar, president of the Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors, says the government should waive the fee as resident doctors have not received any academic training since last year. Resident doctors are MBBS graduates doing or aspiring to do a postgraduate course, such as an MD or MS. They are assigned hospital duties and are involved in patient care and lab work, and ensure timely treatment.

Post-graduate medical students across government colleges pay an academic fee of Rs.1.19 lakh a year. “We have been doing extensive Covid duties since last March, compromising on academic activities, and even so, we are asked to pay the full fee,” Sagar says. The government rejected the demand for fee waiver last year, but it should consider the demand favourably at least this year, he urges.

Doctors who test positive have no quarantine, and that is adding to their worries. “We have not had any hotel quarantining for the last six months,” he says.

It is important for doctors to remain isolated as they risk infecting their families. Lack of quarantine could make the virus spread faster, he explains.

A monthly stipend of Rs.45,000 for the first year, Rs.50,000 for the second year and Rs 55,000 for the third year are being paid to resident doctors across government colleges, says Dr Namratha C, resident doctor.

Namratha says Karnataka charges the most for a government medical student in the country while it pays the least. “The government only started to give a Covid allowance of Rs.10,000 from April this year, although the demand was put forth a year ago,” she says.

Resident doctors are now undertrained. Since most part of their post-graduation is spent on Covid duty, the state government needs to come up with a way to provide them exposure to their chosen specialities, she adds.

How many on duty?

About 6,000 resident doctors are serving across the state (from both government and private colleges), of which 2,000 are in Bengaluru alone.