Controversy erupts over Mamata’s ‘diploma doctor’ proposal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee | Photo Credit: PTI

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asked the state health department to consider a proposal to start a short diploma course for doctors. The political parties of the opposition and the association of doctors raised strong objections to this remark and created a controversy.

Can we start diploma course for doctors like for engineers? Many boys and girls will get a chance (to study medicine). doctors take a long time to graduate (under five-year degrees); He has to study and work in a hospital,” Ms Banerjee said while addressing a meeting at the state secretariat.

The Chief Minister said that since the number of hospitals, medical colleges and beds were increasing, a “parallel system” could be created for doctors who would run the primary health centres. Ms. Banerjee asked the state health department officials to look into the proposal to create a three-year diploma course.

Manas Gupta, general secretary of the Association of Health Service Doctors, said that doctors are responsible for the lives of the patients they treat, and doctors with diplomas will cause a big problem in the health sector.

State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the Trinamool Congress government has failed in various fields from school education to health and people will not give Mamta Banerjee a chance to implement such ideas.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister also directed the officers to fill up all the vacancies in the state police in the next three months. He said that the new recruits can be posted at the police station after seven days of training instead of one month’s training and they can learn on the job.