While women students are entitled to maternity leave of up to 180 days once during their postgraduate course, the attendance requirement for appearing in examinations allows authorities to charge a re-admission fee from these students.
Published Dec 15, 2025 | 8:21 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 15, 2025 | 8:21 AM
Representative image.
Synopsis: Telangana’s postgraduate resident doctors are forced to pay ₹15,000 to continue their course if their maternity leave extends beyond 90 days. While women students are entitled to maternity leave of up to 180 days once during their postgraduate course, the attendance requirement for appearing in examinations allows authorities to charge a re-admission fee from these students.
A postgraduate resident doctor in Telangana returned to the hospital three months after delivery. Her body recovered, and her infant stabilised. When she walked to the academic office, the staff handed her a form asking for ₹15,000. She stared at the amount. Form mentions processing fee of ₹5,000 and re-admission/break of study fee of ₹10,000.
The fee arrived without warning. No orientation session mentioned it. No prospectus listed it. No senior warned about it. Women discover the charge only when they return from maternity leave, paperwork in hand, ready to resume training.
“After delivery, I informed my department and later approached the academic office,” a senior resident recalled. “I was told to formally apply for maternity leave and seek university permission since I had taken six months of leave. I was asked to submit a demand draft of around ₹7,000 in favour of the university, along with an application and a recommendation letter from the principal.”
The amount has since doubled. Women now pay ₹15,000. The fee is split into two charges — ₹5,000 for processing, ₹10,000 for re-admission. The label ‘re-admission’ confuses everyone. The student never left the university. She never withdrew from her course. She took leave to deliver and recover. But the system treats her absence as a break in study requiring fresh admission.
The Telangana Senior Resident Doctors Association documented such cases. Their representation to Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences and the Director of Medical Education exposes a system that penalises women for taking the time medical science says they need.
The university promises maternity leave. The rulebook states women can take time off for childbirth. But the system builds a trap into the promise.
Take 90 days. Nothing more. Cross that threshold by even a single day, and everything changes.
“We are allowed only 90 days of maternity leave,” the senior resident explains. “If we take even a day beyond that, we are required to undergo a mandatory extension.”
Medical science recommends six months for recovery and breastfeeding. The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises six months of exclusive breastfeeding. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act of 2017 grants 26 weeks — 182 days — to working women across India.
Postgraduate medical students get 90 days. They train in the same hospitals. They work the same shifts. They deliver the same babies. However, the law does not recognise them as employees. The university classifies them as students. Students do not get maternity benefits. Students get academic leave.
The delivery happens. Complications arise. The caesarean section requires a longer recovery. The infant needs intensive care. After 90 days pass and just when the calendar marks day 91, the student becomes a defaulter.
The university calls it a rejoining fee. Dr C Karishni, General Secretary of TSRDA, termed it something else.
“On the DME side, maternity leave inevitably requires a course extension, and it is during this extension that the students are being asked to pay a rejoining fee,” she said. “This is the real issue. We are not supposed to pay a rejoining fee for simply taking leave — it sounds absurd.”
The logic works like this: The postgraduate course runs for two years. The student takes six months of maternity leave. Six months get added to her course duration. She now needs two years and six months to complete the programme. The extra six months push her beyond the scheduled completion date. The system classifies this as discontinuation. Discontinuation requires re-admission. Re-admission demands fees.
KNRUHS regulations spell this out. Students who are absent for 91 days or more must apply to rejoin. The application goes to the Registrar. It needs the principal’s recommendation. It requires payment of the requisite fees.
Government Order 155 of 2021 reinforces this framework. Students absent for three months or more forfeit their regular admission. They must seek special permission. Permission comes with conditions. Conditions include payment.
The fee started at ₹7,000. Nobody knows when or why it jumped to ₹15,000. The senior resident who paid ₹7,000 considers herself fortunate. Her juniors face double the amount.
“I am also unclear about the ₹7,000 fee I was asked to pay while applying for maternity leave,” she said. “I was not told under which rule or circular it was collected. I have heard that a ₹15,000 rejoining fee is being charged now, but there is no clarity on when this was introduced or under what provision.”
The KNRUHS prospectus for 2025 contains a promise. Women students can avail maternity leave up to 180 days only once during their postgraduate course. The study period shall extend to match the leave period. The candidate shall not appear for examinations until she completes the extended study period.
The promise looks clear. Take 180 days. Extend your course by 180 days. Complete the extension. Write your exams. Graduate.
Students report a different reality. They must extend after 90 days, not 180. The written policy grants six months. The implemented practice enforces three.
“When we join postgraduate courses, the primary focus is on examinations, with strict stipulations on minimum attendance required to be eligible to appear for exams,” Dr Karishni explained. “Even when a student takes maternity leave or any other medical leave, the emphasis remains on meeting the minimum attendance requirement for examinations.”
The attendance requirement creates the gap. Students need a minimum number of days present to sit for exams. Maternity leave counts as absence. Absence beyond 90 days creates an attendance deficit too large to overcome within the standard course duration. The deficit forces extension. Extension triggers re-admission. Re-admission costs money.
The university grants 180 days on paper. The attendance rules nullify this grant in practice. Students who take the full 180 days cannot meet attendance requirements for exams. They must wait. The wait extends their course. The extension costs ₹15,000.
“The government views this matter with concern. Officials examine all existing government orders and study their implementation across other departments. This review aims to produce a resolution that addresses the concerns raised,” a government official said.
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act of 2017 transformed protections for working women. It increased paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. It required employers with 50 or more workers to provide crèche facilities. It allowed women to work from home after their leave period ended.
None of these protections applies to postgraduate medical students.
The Act covers employees. It requires an employer-employee relationship. Postgraduate students occupy a different category. The university admits them as students. They pay fees for their education. They receive stipends for work performed. However, the legal framework classifies the stipend as a scholarship, not a salary. It classifies their service as training, not employment.
The distinction removes them from the Act’s coverage. They work the same hours as resident doctors. They manage the same patients. They perform the same procedures. But they receive no maternity benefits.
The National Medical Commission sets guidelines for postgraduate medical education. Its 2023 regulations address maternity leave in a single sentence: “Female postgraduate students shall receive maternity leave as per existing government rules and regulations.”
The commission does not specify which rules. It does not define which regulations. It leaves implementation to state universities. Each university interprets the mandate differently. Some grant six months. Others enforce three. Some waive rejoining fees. Others collect them. Students discover these variations only after admission, often only after pregnancy.
TSRDA submitted its representation to the university and the Director of Medical Education. The document lists five demands. Establish clear protocols for maternity leave. Waive the rejoining fee. Continue stipends during extension periods. Allow casual leaves during extensions. Release pending stipend payments immediately.
“We have raised this issue through representations,” Dr Karishni said. “To my knowledge, representations were made by TSRDA and student bodies to the DME and the university regarding rejoining after maternity leave. However, there was no concrete response — only assurances that the matter would be looked into.”
The assurances arrived months ago. Nothing changed. Women continue paying ₹15,000 to return to work after childbirth. Women continue navigating the gap between the 180-day promise and the 90-day practice. Women continue extending their courses because they took time to recover and feed their children.
The senior resident who paid ₹7,000 completed her postgraduate training. She moved to senior residency. Nine months passed. She has not received a single rupee of her senior resident stipend. The delays continue. The system processes her paperwork. She waits.
“Even now, I am facing delays,” she said. “While the extension stipend is supposed to be paid, it takes an unreasonably long time.”
She returns to the hospital each morning. She examines patients. She writes prescriptions. She teaches junior residents. The work continues. The payment does not. The pattern repeats itself across teaching hospitals in Telangana — women delivering babies, taking the time they need to recover, returning to find bills waiting instead of welcome.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
