Calcutta: The state government told Calcutta High Court on Monday that Bengal's health care system would collapse if it were to adhere to norms and allow 10 per cent of the 6,600 MBBS doctors on its rolls to go on leave for postgraduate studies.

"There is an acute shortage of doctors in state-run health care institutions. If the 105 petitioners are allowed to go for higher studies, the entire health care system will collapse," counsel Amitesh Banerjee, representing the state in a case against the health department, told the division bench of Justice Debasish Kargupta and Justice Shampa Sarkar.

Justice Kargupta responded to the submission by asking the counsel: "How does Bengal expect to produce doctors for its 42 new super speciality hospitals if it does not encourage postgraduate education?"

He asked the government to submit an affidavit by August 7 detailing the difficulties it could face if the 105 petitioners were granted sponsorships for postgraduate studies.

The petitioners had first approached the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal in March. This was after the health department rejected their applications for "sponsorship", although all of them had apparently appeared for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test with no-objection certificates from the government.

The tribunal bench of Justice R.K. Bag and member Subesh Das upheld the appeal and directed the health department to grant the petitioners sponsorship in the form of paid leave to study for postgraduate medical degrees in subjects of their choice.

The state appealed against the order in the division bench of the high court.

Appearing for Swagatendra Bose and 104 other doctors, advocate Mookherji said that the government's argument about health care facing a potential collapse because of doctors had going on leave for higher studies was riddled with inconsistencies. "The state government is claiming that the entire health system will collapse if the petitioner doctors are granted sponsorship. But the government has already allotted sponsorship to 196 doctors ranked below the petitioners in NEET."

Like every year, the health department had issued no-objection certificates to 600-odd doctors in service to appear for NEET 2018. The 105 doctors who were refused sponsorship are those that performed well the entrance test for subjects of their choice, according to Mookherji.

Government doctors who wish to study for postgraduate degrees without quitting service are required to apply for sponsorship so that the respective states continue to disburse their salaries during the duration of their courses.

In Bengal, nearly 150 doctors with postgraduate diplomas and degrees from state-run institutions have had their requests for "release from service" rejected by the government despite paying the stipulated bond amounts or agreeing to do so.

The three orders issued so far in this batch of cases pending with another division bench have all been in favour of the petitioners.

On June 18, the bench had directed the health department to return within two days the certificates and testimonials of Rahul Bansal, a doctor from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh who had studied for a postgraduate diploma in Bengal and opted out of the stipulated five years of service by paying Rs 20 lakh in accordance with the terms of his bond.