Merit Bypassed! 930 West Bengal Doctors Protest As Senior Residents Are Assigned Hospitals Without Counseling

The West Bengal health department is facing severe backlash after releasing a controversial posting order for 930 Senior Resident (SR) doctors that entirely bypassed the standard merit-based counseling process.

The Core Issue: Merit Ignored

Trainee doctors in West Bengal serve a mandatory three-year bond as SRs, historically allocated through transparent counseling based on academic ranks. By abandoning this process, the health department has sparked allegations of deep-rooted nepotism. Protesting doctor associations claim favored candidates secretly received prime Kolkata postings, while others were arbitrarily dumped in remote district or sub-divisional hospitals.

The Threat to Future Careers

Beyond the lack of transparency, this arbitrary allocation directly threatens the doctors’ academic futures. National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines clearly mandate that a doctor must complete at least one year of senior residency in a recognized medical college to qualify for future medical faculty positions.

By forcing newly graduated PG doctors into rural facilities without a fair counseling process, the state is effectively locking them out of future careers in medical education. Aggrieved SRs have officially submitted a memorandum to Swasthya Bhawan, warning of wider protests if transparent counseling is not immediately reinstated.