Dental students of RIMS stage protest on pending stipends

Our Correspondent
Imphal, Dec. 14 (EMN): Ceasing their normal duties, the 2nd batch of Dental College of Regional Institute Medical Sciences (RIMS) students who are undergoing Bachelors in Dental Science(BDS) in Imphal staged a sit in protest, demanding immediate release of their pending stipends in Imphal on Thursday.
“Our Internship started from Sept. 1 but we have been here without pay for the past three months,” said an angry dental student while expressing that “The situation now is that the authorities are not willing to pay us at par with our MBBS counterparts although this is what is being followed over the country.”
If professors, residents, post graduates, interns of both MBBS and BDS get equal pay all over the country(central government institutions) then why discriminate interns of Dental College of RIMS, another student felt.
According to the students, the first batch students of the Dental College who had already passed in August this year, used to get only about Rs 10,000 as their stipend while their MBBS counterparts gets Rs 17,900 a month during their internship in the institution.
They said that they have been managing the Dental OPD(Out Patient Department) since their 3rd year and they deserve to be paid equally without question of their work.
“We’ve been treating the patients with the instruments and materials bought with our own money which the hospital failed to provide,” one of the student alleged. “We came through the same entrance, we have paid the same fees and we demand the same stipend and we want equal stipend by Dec. 30 this year,” the agitating students demanded.
The protesting BDS students had also submitted an application to the state Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh to intervene the situation in the RIMS Dental college on Nov. 17 this year. But there is no report of any positive response so far, they added.
The students plans to continue their agitation till their demands are fulfilled.
An effort to contact the RIMS authorities was futile as there was no response from them.