A statewide protest by 650 Foreign Medical Graduate (FMG) interns in Telangana entered its fourth day on Sunday, with participants extending their boycott to emergency and casualty services while demanding the same monthly stipend paid to MBBS graduates trained in India.
The protesting interns, posted in government hospitals across Telangana, said they perform the same clinical duties as other medical interns, including work in outpatient departments, wards and emergency care. However, they said they receive either no stipend or a nominal payment of Rs 5,000 a month, compared with the regular stipend of Rs 29,792 paid to doctors who completed their MBBS in India.
The protest followed formal representations by the FMG interns and a meeting with the Director of Medical Education (DME). After beginning a phased protest, the interns withdrew from routine duties and have now extended the boycott to emergency and casualty services through October 13, according to Telangana Today.
The dispute places the stipend issue inside the operational framework of government hospitals, where FMG interns are assigned mandatory clinical internships after qualifying the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). The interns are allotted Compulsory Rotatory Medical Internships (CRMI) by the state medical council and serve in government hospitals across Telangana’s districts.
The FMG interns have sought government orders providing the full monthly stipend of Rs 29,792, which they say would bring their payments in line with National Medical Commission guidelines. They have also demanded payment of unpaid arrears accumulated since January 2026 and protection from punitive action, additional duties or attendance-related retaliation because of their participation in the protest.
The FMGE is the licensing examination that foreign-trained medical graduates must clear before proceeding to their mandatory internship in India. Telangana Today reported that the examination has recorded pass percentages ranging between 12% and 20%, highlighting the qualification hurdle faced by graduates before they enter the state’s clinical training system.
The immediate concern for government hospitals is the effect of the extended duty boycott on services provided by interns. The source report does not provide details of disruptions at specific hospitals or districts, nor does it include a response from the DME on the interns’ demands. The protest is therefore continuing amid an unresolved dispute over stipend parity, arrears and safeguards for participating doctors.
If the demands are not met, the interns plan to hold a protest near the DME office in Koti on October 14. The planned demonstration is the next announced step in the statewide campaign.
