Calcutta, Dec. 5: The Centre is planning to implement a model medical education system that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had proposed.

Under the proposed scheme, the pilot project for which will be implemented in Bengal, medical students will begin their training at primary health centres instead of medical colleges. Initially, 50 students would be made part of the project.

Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who was here today for the closing of the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress, said: ?This was an excellent proposal and will be started in Bengal. Once the project is successful, it will be implemented in other states, too.?

As part of the pilot project, a student would first obtain training at a rural primary health centre, then at a community health centre and finally, at a tertiary centre.

?Students trained at the medical colleges have the facility of modern equipment. When posted at a health centres with no such infrastructure, the young doctors lose confidence and so the idea of an alternative course was mooted,? Bengal health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra said.

The proposal was submitted to the Medical Council of India, which approved it four years ago, Mishra added.

?It was lying with the earlier (NDA) government all this while. We requested the present government to revive the scheme and they found it interesting.?

Details of the project would be worked out soon. ?Admission to the course will be according to medical council guidelines,? Mishra said.

At the congress, Ramadoss also said: ?There should be an independent authority for drugs. There is no point in bureaucrats holding on to monitoring of drugs ... We will have to bring in a lot more regulations to ensure quality and cut down on government procedures.?

Preliminary discussions have been held to form the body on the lines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

?The decision has been taken to infuse quality and cut down government procedures,? Ramadoss said.