DNB students of Cooper Hospital struggle for already approved stipend hike

Dr Jawalgekar also pointed out the disparities in the appointment letters of doctors. While Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (MS) students are appointed as resident medical officers (RMOs), DNB students are sometimes appointed as house officers or registrars

Mumbai: Medical students doing Diplomate of National Board (DNB) courses from civic-run hospitals in Mumbai are demanding the long-awaited hike of ₹10,000 which was approved last year by the state government but has not yet reflected in their monthly stipend.

DNB students of Cooper Hospital struggle for already approved stipend hike

The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors chapter of Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Medical College (HBTMC) and Dr R N Cooper Municipal General Hospital had announced that doctors would go on mass leave on January 14 to press for implementation of the hike. “After we announced this, the administration assured us that the hike would come soon but nothing has happened so far,” said Dr Venkatesh Jawalgekar, a graduate student of HBTMC.

Dr Jawalgekar also pointed out the disparities in the appointment letters of doctors. While Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (MS) students are appointed as resident medical officers (RMOs), DNB students are sometimes appointed as house officers or registrars.

A DNB RMO from Cooper Hospital said, “We have been reaching out to the administration since July 2024 when the hike was given to other RMOs, which also included the pending arrears since March. However, we have not received anything. Also, there is a huge disparity between the stipends of other RMOs and us. They get food and library allowances and we don’t, as we are treated as house officers or registrars even though the appointment letter mentions ‘Resident Doctor’.”

As per the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), the DNB is a three-year post-graduate course, whose students are mandated to be appointed as RMOs and treated as equivalent to RMOs of other post-graduate courses. Currently, there are about 106 students pursuing DNB specialty courses at HBTMC.

The state government also issued an order on March 4, 2024, stating that all colleges were bound to pay the stipend as prescribed by NBEMS or a basic stipend as per the basic government policy, whichever was higher.

When contacted, Dr Sudhir Medhekar, dean of Cooper Hospital, said there was an “administrative error” in the BMC’s directive. “The order mandates a hike for ‘DNB superspeciality students’ while it should have been all DNB students, specialty and superspeciality,” he explained. “We have sent a proposal to the concerned authorities, and the DNB speciality students should get their hike soon.”