‘Mamata’s plan to train medicos will help end doctor shortage’

“To set up a medical college any institution must have a minimum 300-bed hospital and 25 acres of land. The Indian Railways has an advantageous position as it has enough land and its existing hospitals can be quickly upgraded in medical colleges,” added Ray,who was earlier head of School of Medical Science and Technology at IIT-Kharagpur.

In her July 3 Railway Budget speech,Mamata Banerjee had announced that 18 railway hospitals in the country will be upgraded into medical colleges. Among the 18,four — B R Singh Railway Hospital,Garden Reach,Kharagpur and Barasat — are in West Bengal.

“It is a very feasible project. I do not know about other hospitals but B R Singh hospital definitely has the infrastructure that could be upgraded into a medical college,” said Utpal Dutta,Principal,Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.

While the B R Singh Railway Hospital has a facility of 461 beds,Garden Reach Hospital has 330 beds and the Kharagpur railway hospital has 300 beds. Railway officials say that their hospital at Barasat lacks infrastructure for upgrading it soon into a medical college. According to Medical Council of India (MCI),a medical college can be set up and could upgrade its infrastructure in phases. Both B R Singh Hospital and the Railway Hospital at Garden Reach are already providing training to medical graduates — nine months of house traineeship for MBBS students at B R Singh Hospital and post graduate courses in surgery medicine and gynaecology is offered at Garden Reach hospital.

“The proposal of setting up a medical college has to be mooted through the Railway Board. Then the hospitals will have to construct labs for teaching the students. We have a fairly good infrastructure and we feel we will be able to start medical colleges in a short span of time,” said Soumitra Majumdar,Chief Public Relations Officer,South Eastern Railway.