3 more medical colleges by next year

KOLKATA: The state government will continue with direct recruitment of doctors till May 2011. Health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra on Wednesday announced the government's decision to set up three more medical colleges in the state.
The West Bengal Health Services (Amendment) Bill was passed in the assembly to remove difficulties that had cropped up in the recruitment process of medical teachers.
"The Public Service Commission was authorized to appoint doctors in medical colleges. But the process took too much time. The government started direct recruitment to solve the problem. This process will continue till May 24, 2011," Mishra said.
The state government has decided to upgrade the Sagar Dutta Hospital and ESI Hospital at Kamarhati, North 24-Parganas, into a medical college along with the Malda district hospital and Behrampore state general hospital.
These medical colleges will have 100 seats each. As many as 695 seats will be added in the existing medical colleges. "The new seats will be incorporated from the 2011 academic session," Mishra said. This will take the number of new seats to 995 adding to the 1,205 existing seats in the 11 medical colleges in the state.
The health minister said that the state government needed more teachers. "In the last two years, the number of postgraduate seats has gone up by 300. Without more teachers the classes cannot be held," he said.
The recognition of the new medical colleges will depend on the nod from the Medical Council of India which has strict norms. One of the basis requirements is the number of teachers for the MBBS course. During numerous inspections made by the MCI, the state health department was charged with transferring teachers from other medical colleges to make up the numbers.
The Bill states that the state government will not be able to obtain the requisite clearance from MCI. Any medical institution which fails to meet the MCI's criteria is liable to lose its recognition.