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While refusing to quash criminal proceedings against a gynaecologist accused of medical negligence, the Allahabad High Court recently expressed concern over the practice of private hospitals using ‘patients like ATMs to extort money’ out of them.

“It is common practice these days that private nursing homes/hospitals tend to entice the patients for treatment even though they do not have the doctors or infrastructure. When the patient is admitted in a private hospital they start calling for the doctor to treat the patient. It is common knowledge that the private hospitals/nursing homes have started treating the patients as guinea pig/ATM machines only to extort money out of them,” the HC bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar noted.

These observations were made by the HC bench while considering a case involving alleged medical negligence during the treatment of a pregnant woman. The accused doctor, who is the owner of a nursing home, had allegedly admitted a pregnant woman for surgery even in the absence of an anaesthetist. By the time the anaesthetist arrived, the foetus was found dead.

It was alleged that the patient was admitted to the hospital at 10:30 A.M. on 28.07.2007 for delivery. Even though the consent for the surgery was given on the morning of 29th July, the patient was taken into the operating theatre in the evening. After the surgery, the patient’s husband was informed that the foetus had died. When the family objected, they were allegedly beaten up by the employees of the doctor and his associates. After filing an FIR, a post-mortem was conducted, a statement of the applicant was taken, and the CMO constituted a Medical Board to look into the issue.

The Supreme Court recently criticised the Telangana Government’s domicile policy for the State quota medical seats, calling it “far removed from ground reality.”

As per this policy, to be eligible for admission to state quota seats through the National Eligibility-Entrance Test (NEET), a student must have pursued Classes 9 to 12 in the State. While faulting the policy, the top court bench warned that if the Government did not fix the issue, the Court would intervene.

The Apex Court bench observed that many students move to places like Kota for better coaching in Classes 11 and 12, and they should not be denied Telangana state quota medical seats merely because they studied outside the State.

As per the latest media report by India Today, the top court bench ruled that the students whose parents are residents of Telangana should be allowed to apply under the State quota, no matter where they completed their schooling.

Bringing good news to the MBBS interns and resident doctors in Punjab, the Finance Minister of the State, Harpal Singh Cheema, has announced a hike in the monthly stipends paid to interns, junior residents, and senior residents serving in the government medical and dental colleges across the State.

In a recent release, the Government has announced that the stipend for the medical interns in Punjab has been increased from Rs 15,000 to Rs 22,000 per month.

Similarly, after the hike, the Junior resident doctors will get Rs 76,000 in their first year, Rs 77,000 in their second year, and Rs 78,000 in their third year. Earlier, the JRs used to get Rs 67,968 as a monthly stipend.

The stipend for the senior residents has also been increased from Rs 81,562 to Rs 92,000 in the first year, Rs 93,000 in the second year, and Rs 94,000 in the third year.

As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, at present, the government medical and dental colleges in Punjab have 907 sanctioned posts for interns, 1,408 posts for junior residents and 754 posts for senior residents.

While announcing the stipend hike on Thuesday, Finance Minister Cheema said that due to the hike in stipend amount, the annual expenditure on stipends will rise from existing Rs 204.96 crore to Rs 238.18 crore. Therefore, there will be Rs 33.22 crore extra expenses.