Consider diploma courses for doctors, fill vacant police posts by 3 months, says CM

Kolkata: To further boost the state’s rural health infrastructure, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday proposed to set up more nursing institutes and also instructed the state Health department to explore options for the introduction of a diploma course for doctors for rendering services to the primary health centres across Bengal.

She also instructed the police administration to complete recruitment in all vacant posts within three months and at the same time advised changes in the recruitment process of the cops.

Banerjee addressed a review meeting regarding Utkarsh Bangla aimed at skilling the workforce and generating more employment in the state.

“Several hospitals have come up across Bengal and there is a massive shortage of doctors and nurses. So, you should consider starting a diploma course for doctors which is similar to the diploma course in engineering. The dependence of people on government healthcare is increasing by leaps and bounds and seats are also being increased from time to time in hospitals. So, I feel that those who complete the doctors’ diploma course can render services to the primary health centres, considering the huge rush of patients,” Banerjee said.

She expressed hope that this course will develop a parallel system besides the ongoing five-year MBBS course which is the traditional system of churning out doctors. However, Banerjee did not suggest any time frame for such diploma courses for doctors.

Health Secretary N S Nigam said he would explore the provisions and inform the Chief Minister.

She instructed Nigam to form a committee with experts, if needed and can hold the course in seminar halls of government hospitals as well as in government convention centres.

Banerjee expressed her displeasure over the recruitment delay in the police. “The police recruitment requires six months or three months of training. Thousands of recruitments are pending. It seems that a sense of casualness and lethargy has crept in and the process is being dilly-dallied. It does not affect the recruiter. But the aspirers who have gone through the screening process wait anxiously for the job. I am making it clear that all pending police recruitments should be completed in three months,” she added.

Banerjee advised ushering in changes in the recruitment process too. “Till date, the training is for six or three months. You can send them to police stations after training for seven days which will contribute to adding to the existing force in the police stations.

Then at the time of field training, the additional grooming that is needed can be done. You can consider imparting field training for 21 days and the rest of the days can be utilised for other requisite training,” Banerjee, who is also in charge of the state Home department said.

Banerjee also urged the private healthcare sector present in the meeting to develop infrastructure for the training of nurses by setting up more colleges for their training because some private health establishments are facing a big crisis with less number of nurses available to cater to the rush of patients.

“You should not waste additional time training nurses. I feel that nurses do not require exhaustive training for administering injections or saline or for giving medicine to patients as per the schedule prescribed by the doctor. A short period of training can be considered for junior-level nurses,” she remarked.

Banerjee also directed her police top brass to ensure that security agencies function with valid police licenses so that a database of all such agencies is available to the police. In case of any untoward incident in any office or residential complex, the police have to intervene as the latter is empowered to take action as per law. “The police should have a clear picture of such security agencies working in different parts of the state,” she maintained.