Healthcare professionals completing three years’ training can’t be recognized as doctors, a 14-member expert panel headed by Dr Sukumar Mukherjee, leading general medicine specialist in the city, felt.

The committee comprising medical experts associated with different state-run and private hospitals was formed by the government to explore the viability of a proposal made by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the health portfolio.

Advertisement

Few days ago Miss Banerjee had proposed a threeyear diploma medical course for young boys and girls to meet up the shortfall of registered MBBS doctors in government healthcare facilities like medical colleges, hospitals, rural health centres across the state.

She had asked Narayan Swarup Nigam, principal secretary in charge of the health department, to form a committee to explore the proposal. The committee members in its first meeting held on Monday evening virtually turned down the chief minister’s proposal.

“We can’t recognize anybody completing the proposed three year’s medical training as doctors. Giving them tags of registered doctors would be an act of violating the guidelines of the National Medical Commission (NMC). We think candidates after completing the three years’ training programme should be identified as ‘healthcare providers’ instead of terming ‘diploma doctors’,” a member of the committee said, requesting anonymity.

They should be given jobs in rural healthcare services to monitor between systems of disease treatment and control, the member said. The committee also felt that experienced nurses, AYUSH doctors, healthcare assistants in rural Bengal should be brought under the proposed medical training for three years.

“We will sit again to discuss several other issues in connection with the proposal and submit a report to the state health department,” the member added. The state government has asked the committee to submit the report within 30 day