Registration Mandatory for all doctors practising, studying in Bengal, Medical Council gives deadline

Kolkata: The medical practitioners who are employed in any capacity in West Bengal, those involved in private practice, or the Postgraduate students in any medical college in the State will now mandatorily require registration with the West Bengal Medical Council. This includes the doctors who have registrations in other states and are currently working in the state.

Issuing a notification in this regard on 09.02.2024, the Council further clarified that those who do not have registration with the West Bengal Medical Council will have to obtain the same within the coming three months.

"All the medical practitioners who are in employment in any capacity or in private practice regular and/or on periodic visit in the State of West Bengal or is undergoing any postgraduate studies in any medical establishment within the geographical jurisdiction of the State of West Bengal must have registration with the West Bengal Medical Council. Those who still do not have registration with the West Bengal Medical Council are hereby instructed to do the same within 3-months from the date of this Notice," the notice issued by WBMC mentioned.

The decision in this regard was taken at a board meeting of the State Medical Council held on Thursday, adds Telegraph India.

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Medical Dialogues had earlier reported about the WBMC's plans to introduce a new policy soon, under which, doctors practising in the State would have to get clearance from the State Medical Council if they have medical registrations from any State other than West Bengal.

It was reported that under this new policy, doctors having registration from outside states, would be required to register their names with the State's medical council. This would not only be applicable for the doctors associated with the state-run hospitals, but also for doctors linked with private hospitals, including those running private chambers.

An office-bearer of the State Medical Council had informed IANS that a detailed notification in this regard would be issued shortly. He had further mentioned that as a first step, all the private hospitals in the State had been asked to furnish a list of the medical practitioners associated with them.

The medical council in Bengal was introducing these new rules as it noted while examining the medical negligence cases that some of the doctors had medical registration with some other States. In such cases, the Commission becomes unable to take any action against such doctors.

As per the latest media report by Telegraph India, commenting on the matter, the President of WBMC Sudipto Roy said, "We have asked all doctors who have their registration in other states but are working in Bengal to get registered with the state medical council."

Another member from the Council mentioned that around 70,000 doctors who were working in the State are registered with the State Medical Council. On the other hand, there are about a few hundred doctors from the other States who are not registered with the Medical Council.

Speaking to the Daily, a board member of WBMC, Kaushik Biswas said that if a doctor was found guilty of misconduct or negligence, the WBMC would have no power to act against him or her if the concerned person was not registered with the Council.

"We are not asking them to forego their registrations in other states. We are asking them to also get registered with us," he said.

"About a fortnight ago, we also asked private hospitals to send us lists of all doctors with their names, registration numbers, qualifications and the state in which they are registered," he added.

Meanwhile, officials belonging to some private hospitals in the city said that most of their doctors from other States have registration from WBMC. In this regard, a senior official of a private hospital added, "The process is quite simple and most doctors do it on their own."

To view the notification, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/wbmc-notice-232098.pdf

Also Read: Doctors Practicing in Bengal Required to get Clearance from Medical Council under New Policy