Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Tuesday announced a hike in the stipend of pre and para-clinical students of the state-run medical colleges.
As per the decision the total stipend has been increased to Rs 48,302 from Rs 39,950 for first year students, to Rs 50,658 for 2nd year and Rs 53,014 for 3rd year.
Besides, the government has decided to provide an additional monthly stipend to Rs 18,000 for post graduate students undertaking pre and para-clinical courses at state-run medical colleges.
Both in-service and post graduate doctors will be entitled for the monthly stipend which has been introduced for the first time by Odisha government, informed Health Minister Pratap Jena.
The incentives are likely to play a crucial role in attracting students for pre and para-clinical courses as earlier students were not keen to take up the streams after MBBS.
"The stipend hike will be eligible for students enrolling for pre-clinical courses like anatomy, physiology and bio-chemistry and para-clinical streams including FMT, pathology, microbiology and community medical," Jena added.
Earlier, Odisha government on January 1 had announced a hike in stipend of house surgeons from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000.
Recently, the Odisha government hiked the stipend of house surgeons working at SCB Medical College & Hospital in Cuttack, Maharaja Krishna Chandra Gajapati (MKCG) Medical College & Hospital in Berhampur and Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) in Sambalpur to be applicable retrospectively from April 1, 2017.