The Supreme Court of India declared that foreign medical graduates (FMGs) who completed their mandatory internships at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) from June 2023 to June 2024 must be paid the same stipend as Indian medical graduates (IMGs). The verdict follows years in which FMGs received no payment, while IMGs earned about INR 26,300 per month for performing identical duties.
FMGs are Indian nationals who obtain their medical degrees overseas and return to India to complete the mandatory one-year internship required for practice. Although they carry out the same clinical responsibilities as graduates trained in India, they were previously denied any stipend. The Court ruled that identical work cannot be rewarded unequally, especially since an earlier judgment had already recognized stipend parity for junior FMGs.
The Court further clarified that medical institutions will not be penalized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for providing stipends as ordered by the judiciary, eliminating a major administrative concern previously raised by authorities.
The Supreme Court directed that the pending stipend amounts owed to these FMGs be released within three weeks, setting a firm deadline to ensure prompt relief for the impacted doctors.
SC’s ruling finally settles the long-standing stipend parity issue for FMGs who completed their internships before the July 2025 judgment. This outcome is expected to benefit hundreds of foreign-trained Indian doctors who have consistently raised concerns about unequal treatment during their mandatory medical training.
