New Delhi: The Congress' student wing has written to the Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor for increasing the stipend of medical interns to at least Rs 22,000 per month.
In a letter to the Lt Governor, National Students Union of India (NSUI) Chief Neeraj Kundan said the medical interns were left out from being given any incentive as frontline workers during the pandemic and they continue to be underpaid.
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'In the ongoing pandemic, interns of J&K UT much like any other postgraduates...work as frontline workers in COVID wards and screening sections but are highly underpaid as compared to other UTs (as they are given only Rs 12,000 per month in government college) whereas stipend received by interns in other UT of Delhi is Rs 23,500 per month and Chandigarh Rs. 18,000 per month,' he said.
Kundan said interns who work in the tertiary care centres in Jammu and Kashmir and fully dedicated COVID-19 hospitals are also working in O2 plants and night shifts just to make sure that any glitch of O2 crisis would be immediately notified to the authorities concerned.
'We would like to request the LG of the Union Territory of J&K to kindly increase the stipend of the interns to at least Rs 22,000 per month, provide health insurance to all the interns,' he said.
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