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Punjab Medical Trainees Call Off Strike After Stipend Hike and Fee Review Commitment

Punjab has set new stipend rates for trainees; a committee to reassess tuition fees will be formed in two weeks.

Resident doctors and MBBS interns protest for demands at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar on Monday. (Sameer Sehgal/ht)
The state medical education department has increased the tuition fees by 5% for the upcoming academic session. The Punjab government claimed that the fee hike was a regular exercise as per the 2020 notification issued by the medical education department.
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Overview

  • The Forum of Resident Doctors and MBBS interns suspended their more than 50-day OPD and operation theatre boycott after multi-hour talks with Health Minister Balbir Singh Cheema and Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema.
  • The government fixed trainee stipends at ₹22,000 per month for interns, ₹76,000–78,000 for junior residents and ₹92,000–94,000 for senior residents over three years.
  • A notification to constitute an MBBS Fees and Bond Committee will be issued within two weeks to review the ₹20 lakh bond and recurring 5 percent tuition fee hikes.
  • The contested bond policy mandates two years of government service after course completion or a ₹20 lakh payment, a levy that students decried as deepening financial strain.
  • All outpatient and hospital services at Punjab’s government medical colleges will resume normal operations from July 1 after the strike suspension.