To practice in Bengal, Doctors must register with WBMC

The decision was taken at a board meeting of the West Bengal Medical Council on Thursday.

West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) has asked doctors who are registered in other states but practising in Bengal to also register with the WBMC.

Other than doctors, postgraduate medical students also need to register with the state council if their MBBS registration is in another state. WBMC notice said that those who have not registered with the state medical council must register within three months.

As per the report of Telegraph India, a council member said that in many cases of medical negligence by doctors, the state is not able to take action against them as the doctors are not registered in the state. 

“We have asked all doctors who have their registration in other states but are working in Bengal to get registered with the state medical council,” said Sudipto Roy, president of the West Bengal Medical Council.

The notice said: “All medical practitioners who are in employment in any capacity or in private practice regular and/or on periodic visit in the State of West Bengal or is undergoing any postgraduate studies in any medical establishment within the geographical jurisdiction of the State of West Bengal must have registration with the West Bengal Medical Council.”

“Those who still do not have registration with the West Bengal Medical Council are hereby instructed to do the same within 3 months from the date of this Notice," added the notice.

As per another member of the council, there are about 70,000 doctors working in the state who are registered with the state medical council. Also, a few hundred doctors are from other states who are not registered with the West Bengal Medical Council.

“We are not asking them to forego their registrations in other states. We are asking them to also get registered with us,” said Kaushik Biswas, a board member of the state’s medical council. He said that the state medical council has the power to suspend a doctor from seeing patients for a few months, warn a doctor or even cancel his or her registration. The state medical council can take these actions only if they are registered with the council. In case there is no registration with the state medical council, the council would have no power to act against the doctor found guilty of improper conduct or negligence.

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