FORDA urges PM Modi to implement central residency scheme for doctors

Federation of Resident Doctors' Association India (FORDA) has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to implement the central residency scheme for uniform stipend/salary of doctors across the nation. The medical fraternity has appreciated the Centre's effort in combating the deadly COVID-19 pandemic 'since it arrived in the country, and brought the Centre's attention to some of the grievances of doctors in the country'.

"Through this letter, we intend to bring to your notice, an issue pertaining to resident doctors (Post-Graduates and Senior Residents) of the nation. FORDA had raised this issue earlier and demanded implementation of 'One Nation, One Stipend' on multiple occasions," the letter mentioned.

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It also mentioned the Supreme Court's ruling of 1987 which favoured the uniform residency scheme for doctors all over the nation after which central residency scheme was formulated in 1992. However, the letter brought to the Centre's notice that "certain provisions of this central residency scheme still remain to be implemented and there exists a lot of disparity between stipend/salary, which has been recently highlighted by resident doctors of various states." 

However, "certain provisions of this central residency scheme still remains to be implemented and there exists a lot of disparity between stipend/salary, which has been recently highlighted by resident doctors of various states," the letter read. 

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Via this letter, the resident doctors association has demanded adequately and an equal pay for equal work and similar issue regarding disparity in stipend has been raised by MBBS interns of various states. This issue was highlighted to "Union Health Minister, dated 6/5/2020. The Central Government along with all the State Governments should fix the Pay scale of Doctors as per the current 7th CPC Recommendations, and bring uniformity in stipend/salary, all over the nation."

Besides the prime minister, the letter has been sent to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal, Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman and Vice-Chairperson of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar.