– Baishali Mukherjee

Six medical colleges of West Bengal, including one private medical college, are currently operating without junior doctors. To address the gap, the state health department has decided to offer internship opportunities for doctors who have returned with foreign medical degrees. According to the health department, these medical colleges are ‘one to less than five’ years old, hence, the first batch of MBBS students has not yet graduated. Consequently, there are no junior doctors available. As a result, senior residents and professors are handling both inpatient and outpatient services, leading to significant pressure on the faculty members, who are having to handle both teaching and patient care. 

At a time when changes in rules have created uncertainties for MBBS grads with foreign degrees about practising medicine in India, this initiative comes as a big relief. As per the state health department, doctors who graduated from countries like Russia, China, and Ukraine but were unable to complete their internships due to the pandemic, war, or other reasons, are being offered internships in these medical colleges. This initiative aims to address both the internship issues faced by these graduates and the shortage of manpower in the medical colleges. The junior doctors will assist in outpatient departments and provide primary care to inpatients, playing a crucial role in the healthcare system.

However, only those who hold domicile certificates of the state and have passed the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), as per the National Medical Council (NMC) guidelines, will be eligible for this opportunity. Doctors without a state domicile certificate can apply to private colleges only.

According to a senior official from the health department, applications must be submitted by January 19. The medical colleges offering internships are MJN Medical College in Cooch Behar, Deben Mahato Medical College in Purulia, Raiganj Medical College, Prafulla Chandra Sen Medical College in Arambagh, Jhargram Medical College, and Shantiniketan Medical College (private). The list of selected candidates will be published on January 22, and the allocation of medical colleges will be announced on January 27. Document verification and other formalities are expected to be completed within January, allowing the junior doctors to begin their internships by February.

It is pertinent to note here that the current doctor-population ratio of West Bengal is alarmingly low cf. the WHO recommended 1:1,000, revealing the utter decrepit state of medical education in the state which has 34 medical colleges enrolling 5125 students.  At a time when the existing doctor-population ratio is making it a daunting task for medical practitioners in over-crowded public hospitals to provide timely and qualitative medical care to hordes of anxious patients, initiatives like this are expected to improve the poor healthcare situation.