Sanjiban Hospital ties up with Malaysia's Lincoln University College

Kolkata: Sanjiban Hospital in Hooghly has tied up with the Lincoln University College (LUC), Malaysia, to introduce Doctor of Medicine (MD) course which the hospital authorities have claimed to be an equivalent degree to that of the MBBS in India.

The private hospital group on Saturday made the official announcement about the new initiative which, they claim, would be soon introduced. Sanjiban Hospital authorities are yet to declare what would be the intake capacity of the course, offered by the foreign university and some other necessary details related to the new course.

According to a senior official of the Sanjiban Hospital, the medical aspirants will get an opportunity to enroll themselves and study in its campus here at Fuleswar in Hooghly but the degree would be awarded by the LUC from Malaysia.

Dr Subhasis Mitra, Director, Sanjiban Hospital, said the step has been taken so that the crisis of doctors can be addressed. He also added that the hospital has recently signed a collaborative agreement with the LUC to begin the MD course where students from the state will obtain a degree from the foreign university that would be treated at par with the MBBS. The Medical Council of India (MCI), the highest regulating body, has given a clearance to the course, Dr Mitra maintained.

"The main objective of this programme is to build a high-quality health education system by providing an innovative platform. Our country requires 20 million doctors by 2030 and the doctor-patient ration in the country is pitifully low. The number of medical seats needs to be increased," Dr Mitra said. West Bengal University of Health Sciences has already approved various paramedical, healthcare and diploma courses run by the college, he added. The students can also get a chance to qualify for licensing examinations like the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test (PLAB), Australian Medical Council (AMC) Examination and Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) by studying in Sanjiban Hospital campus.