Surjya Kanta Mishra

If you find your doctor more keen on a Robin Cook thriller than medical case studies, don’t blame him, for he is just following the health minister’s prescription.

The 320-odd students at the convocation of the West Bengal University of Health Sciences were stumped when Surjya Kanta Mishra urged them to read Cook to “develop a breadth of vision”.

“You must remember that practice, not reading, helps you understand medical science. Real challenges are very different from the ones you come across in books,” the minister said.

One has to learn from the literature of life as well, the minister went on, before advising his listeners to pore over Robin Cook thrillers to develop a well-rounded personality.

“I couldn’t believe sitting there in the hall that he was saying all this,” a student said on condition of anonymity. “I think he forgot his speech and was making a hash of an extempore.”

Sams Mushafir, a final-year MBBS student at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, said: “Robin Cook is a good light read for doctors and others but I don’t see how his books can help one become a better doctor.”

If the students poked fun at the minister, they were shocked by what governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said moments later.

“The medical services provided by the state in the rural areas of Bengal are quite good. We rank among the top three in rural medical infrastructure in India,” Gandhi said.

“It was almost as if the governor was trying to lure us to villages.... It wasn’t quite the right approach as we all know that rural healthcare in Bengal is in tatters,” said a postgraduate student in gynaecology.

A senior official in the state health department, too, said Gandhi’s comment was far removed from reality.

“The picture is anything but rosy. Most health centres in villages do not have even the basic facilities. And at the block and sub-division levels, you have to be lucky if you can get an X-ray or a CT Scan done. The government itself had acknowledged this when it allowed its employees to be treated in private hospitals,” the official said.