‘School of surgeons’ in State taking final shape

Doctors of government hospitals, who don’t have a postgraduate degree, now have an alternative.

The Karnataka government’s plan to introduce the ‘school of surgeons’ model, similar to the one in Maharashtra, is taking final shape.

Under the model, these doctors can enrol in a two-year fellowship and get real-time learning under the mentorship of established doctors and surgeons. Instead of a postgraduate degree, at the end of the fellowship, they get a certificate.

This way the State hopes to overcome the shortage of specialists, as these doctors can work only in government hospitals.

Health Minister U.T. Khader told The Hindu that the final paperwork for the proposal had been completed and it would be implemented this year. “Our biggest problem is to convince doctors to enrol for government service. All doctors cannot go for post-graduation. Keeping these points in mind, we decided to introduce this system,” Mr. Khader said.

On where the ‘school of surgeons’ will start, the Minister said the government would have to see which hospitals had the required bed capacity. For now, the K.C. General Hospital and Jayanagar General Hospital appear to be frontrunners.