Every private medical practitioner will have to obtain a license for his
or her ‘single doctor establishment’ from the state health department,
which is headed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The state health department has recently prepared a draft for the West
Bengal Clinical
Establishment Rule, 2012, in order to keep a watch on the
functions of medical practitioners in their individual establishments
across West Bengal. The draft will be discussed in the state cabinet
meeting before it is passed in the state legislative assembly.
A single doctor establishment is a medical clinic with just one
registered medical practitioner, who is the owner of the clinic. Only
dental practitioners have been left out of the equation.

According to the rules of the draft, every private practitioner will
have to produce documents, such as academic and professional
qualifications; registration certificated issued by the West Bengal
Medical Council; and a written undertaking declaring that he or she will
follow the provisions of bio-medical wasted management & handling
rules before the clinical establishment cell at Swasthya Bhaban, while
seeking a license for single doctor establishments or chambers.
Licenses will be issued to the applicants if the clinical
establishment cell is satisfied with the documents. Licenses will be
issued for a maximum of five years.
“Several thousands of private practitioners conduct medical practice
in their individual chambers across the state. But, we don’t have
official record on how many doctors practice in single doctor
establishments or chambers,” said a senior official at the clinical
establishment cell.
“The rules will be mandatory for all medical practitioners who
practice individually in such chambers. The new rules will help the
government prevent quack practice, which is rampant in the districts,”
said the official.
“The government doesn’t have official records on doctors with
individual chambers. The proposed rules will regulate the system,” said
Dr Santanu Sen, state secretary of the Indian Medical Association.
Draft rules also pro-pose that each single doctor establishment
should have adequate space for an examination room as well as sitting
arrangements for both doctors and patients, and access to toilet
facilities and availability of drinking water.
Also, doctors will have to generate and maintain records, as per the
Medical Council of India Act, and records related to medico legal cases
in the chamber, as well as any other records or registers required.
The name of the establishment and the doctor’s name and license
number, the system of medicine practice and the specialty must also be
displayed as per the draft rules.