It’s like giving with one hand and taking with the other! This is what the resident doctors at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) find themselves in.
By the time the resident doctors pay up their boarding and lodging dues, they are left with little to send money back home and meet other expenses like purchasing medical books.
Quite hard to believe, but it’s true. From each resident doctor, NIMS management charges Rs. 13,000 a month for a single hostel room with attached bath. The sum also includes monthly maintenance. In addition to lodging, the resident has to spend Rs. 3,000 every month for food served three times a day. Apart from this, the resident doctor also pays up monthly tuition fee, which is Rs. 4,000, Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 6,000 for three years, respectively.
A resident doctor is also supposed to stay on the hospital campus and be available 24 hours during medical emergencies. However, expensive boarding and lodging facilities at NIMS is driving resident and senior doctors to far-off places. More than 50 per cent out of over 100 resident doctors have taken up accommodation in far-off places on sharing basis and commute to the hospital daily.
“Including the monthly tuition fee of Rs. 6,000, I end up paying Rs. 22,000 back to NIMS. The monthly stipend of Rs. 40,000 is just not enough because of other expenses involved. Sometimes I do not send money to my parents because I have other expenses to take care of,” a senior resident from general medicine at NIMS said.
Commercial outlook
Thanks to the expensive facilities, married resident doctors stay outside to save money. “By staying out of the campus, I manage to save money for my child’s playschool. I also have to send some money back home to my parents. This is not a hotel or a commercial enterprise to charge so much,” complains another resident, who is married and has a child.
Due to staying outside the NIMS campus, on several occasions resident doctors have also reported late during emergencies.
“At least twice a week, we work non-stop 36 hours in the hospital. Vital medical duties at casualty, in-patient and out-patient blocks are handled by us. To look after our affairs, there are four Sub-Deans and one Dean. All of them are senior doctors and yet they have done nothing to provide concessions to resident doctors,” they maintain.
