The proposal of an Indian health ministry panel to create a parallel stream of medical practitioners to improve the delivery of health care in rural areas has triggered a debate across the nation's medical community.

The panel, which includes senior doctors and health administrators, has proposed a three year training course to produce community health practitioners who would be deployed in rural areas that have an acute shortage of graduate doctors.

However, officials of the Indian Medical Association said that any such move would be “dangerous” and urged the government to develop alternative solutions to address the shortage of rural doctors.

The …