Assam to have 'doctors' sans medical degrees:-
Guwahati | June 24, 2005 4:40:34 PM IST
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=91194&cat=India
Guwahati, June 24 : From quacks treating patients with cancer to common cold, it will soon be "doctors" without a professional degree donning the white coat and carrying out minor surgeries in Assam's rural areas.
In a bid to improve battered healthcare facilities in the rural region, the Assam government Friday decided to offer a three-year medical course on an experimental basis.
"Some 100 students will be enrolled in the first batch and on completion of the course they will be given a license and certificate to treat patients in rural areas," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told journalists.
"They, however, cannot prefix the title doctor, but will be entitled to treat common diseases and their status and efficiency will be superior to a paramedic."
The course begins in September with the first batch attached to a civil hospital in eastern Assam's Jorhat
district for on-the-job training.
"The students will be taken to some medical colleges in the state for theoretical lessons and other skilled training," Gogoi said.
"The trained personnel will be hundred times better than quacks and pharmacists who are now substituting as doctors in many rural areas."
The idea for the new medical course was necessitated with graduate doctors refusing to work in rural areas.
"The government cannot force a graduate doctor to work in rural areas and hence the healthcare system in the interiors is suffering," Gogoi said.
"We are also thinking of bringing in legislation for fresh graduate doctors to serve in rural areas."
The idea has sparked off bitter reactions from doctors who say the decision could prove counterproductive.
"The idea is ridiculous to say the least. It is like licensed quackery with the
government encouraging unskilled people to play with the lives of people," said B. Das, a private doctor here.
The government claims it does not require a nod for the new course from the Medical Council of India, the country's apex body for medical practitioners
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