'Bihar Foreign Medical Grads Forced to Sign Unjust Bond Amid Internship Delays'

After delaying our internships, the hospital expects us to work without pay, accommodation and food.

FMGs have been asked to sign a bond before joining the internships at ESIC, Bihta, Patna.

(Image altered by The Quint/Aroop Mishra)

After struggling for over three months to get internships at Medical College ESIC, Bihta, Patna, we, the foreign medical graduates of Bihar, are now compelled to sign an inhumane undertaking to join the medical college as interns.

While the National Medical Commission (NMC) norms recommend a stipend for the entire year of internship, we are being asked to sign a document that says, 'The stipend to the interns for the said training, as applicable, will be decided by ESIC headquarters in due course of time, and we will abide by the decision.'

So now, we are being asked to join the internships without clarity on whether we will be paid. The hospital has delayed our joining process for so long that we can't join any other hospital since other colleges have started with their training, and the seats are full.

This is happening even though the Supreme Court has already ruled that foreign medical graduates cannot be treated differently and should be paid a stipend during their internships, just like their counterparts who have completed their MBBS degrees from Indian colleges.

FMGs have been asked us to sign the bond before starting the internships at Medical College ESIC, Bihta, Patna.

(Accessed by The Quint)

Consider the significant time we have already sacrificed to clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) in December 2023, only to face further delays in starting our internship.

Apart from not giving us the stipend, the medical college wants us to sign a bond stating that we will not be provided with the hostel and mess facilities.

Not all of us are from Patna! We come from different districts of Bihar. Everyone knows how difficult, stressful, and long doctors' duty hours are. Does the hospital expect us to spend hours travelling and hustling for food when we have much more severe engagements?

After delaying our internships and leaving us with nowhere else to go, the hospital now expects us to work without pay and without providing any accommodation or food. Isn't this a modern form of bounded labour?

We have tried speaking to the authorities, ministers, and even the dean in charge of the internship, but no solution has been provided. We are running from pillar to post, just like unemployed MBBS graduates.

(The Quint has reached out to Dr Binay Biswas, Dean of Medical College ESIC in Bihta, Patna, but hasn't received any response. The story will be updated once a response is received.)

(Earlier, The Quint published the story on the FMGs when they were waiting for their internship to commence. You can read that story here.)

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