Calcutta: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday "intervened" to have 105 MBBS doctors working in government hospitals released on paid leave to pursue postgraduate studies, ending a prolonged stand-off that has spawned a batch of court cases.

The breakthrough came after an eight-member delegation representing the doctors, who have petitions pending in the high court against the health department, met the chief minister at her Kalighat residence in the morning.

The process of releasing the 105 doctors on paid leave - "sponsorship" in official parlance - was set in motion later in the day after Mamata, who holds the health portfolio, asked officials of the department to "take necessary action".

"The CM said she wants us to pursue higher studies and that she has no objections. She also told us that the state government would withdraw the special leave petition pending in the Supreme Court," said Nabanita Biswas, a member of the delegation.

Biswas is employed as a medical officer at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and has been selected for an MD course in community medicine at the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health.

She said all 105 doctors seeking paid leave for higher studies would submit their applications at Swasthya Bhawan, the headquarters of the health department, on Friday. "We have been assured by officials of our release orders by next week."

After completing their postgraduate diploma or degree courses, these doctors would have to resume working in government hospitals.

The doctors had first approached the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal in March after the health department rejected their applications for sponsorship, although all of them had appeared for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test with no-objection certificates from the government. They told the tribunal that 10 per cent of the total MBBS doctors working in government hospitals could be released for higher studies every year without affecting health care.

Of the 6,600 MBBS doctors currently working in state-run hospitals, 173 have been released on paid leave this year to pursue postgraduate courses. "Even after adding another 105, the figure would be less than 10 per cent," the doctors had argued before the tribunal.

The appeal was upheld and the health department was directed to grant the petitioners sponsorship in the form of paid leave to study for postgraduate medical degrees in subjects of their choice.

When the state government ignored the tribunal's decision, the doctors approached the high court. They also participated in a sit-in at Subodh Mullick Square from August 23 to 28, demanding the chief minister's intervention. Santanu Sen, the state secretary of the Indian Medical Association, advised them to meet the chief minister.