Release 10 per cent MBBS doctors for PG medical courses: HC tells WB govt

 Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court upholding a State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) order today directed the West Bengal government to release 10 per cent in-service MBBS doctors for postgraduate courses.

Dismissing an appeal by the state government challenging the SAT order, a division bench of justices Debasish Kargupta and Sampa Sarkar directed it to comply with the order within two weeks.

The SAT had on June 11 directed that the state government release 10 per cent of in-service MBBS doctors in state-run hospitals, which would roughly translate to a total of over 300 MBBS degree holders getting a chance to pursue MD/MS courses, as against 196 candidates allowed by the state, counsel for the petitioner doctors said.

During the hearing, state counsel Amitesh Banerjee had told the court that rural health care services in the state would be in jeopardy if 10 per cent of the available MBBS doctors were allowed to go for higher studies as 37 rural health centres had only one doctor each, while 23 others had two each.

He had also said that 180 seats were available for post-graduate courses in the medical colleges of the state for 2018 and the names of 196 candidates were released as per the merit list, with a waiting list of 16 candidates.