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Way
back in 1707, the first hospital in Calcutta
was built in the premises of the Old Fort
at Gerstein Place. The Council of Fort William
constructed this hospital that measured
175 ft in length and 60 ft in width. This
hospital, initially built for the Europeans,
was then known as Presidency Hospital.
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The
hospital was accommodated in a single storied
building. Later, in 1768, two houses were
purchased in Lower Circular Road for converting
them into a full fledged hospital. Located
near the Presidency Jail, the hospital came
to be known as Presidency General Hospital.
Doors were opened to the non-European patients
from 02nd April 1770. The Presidency General
Hospital was best known as PG Hospital till
1954 when it was named in the Independent
India, as Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial
Hospital. |
| The naming was done to commemorate
the name of the great donor Sukhlal Karnani.
People started addressing the Hospital as
SSKM Hospital. |
It
was then a practice that the Indian
medical graduates used to go abroad
for studying post graduation and higher
medical research. Government felt
necessary of opening Post Graduate
Medical Learning Centers. PG Hospital
was honoured to be the first Post
Graduate Medical Institute in Eastern
India in 1957. |
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From
16th January 1957, the hospital came to
be known as The Institute of Post Graduate
Medical Education & Research (IPGMER).
The institute was inaugurated by Pandit
Jawahar Lal Nehru, the then Prime Minister
of India, on 16th January, 1957. Since then
the institute is best known as a Medical
Learning Center of Excellence and a Specialty
Hospital, with the following objectives:
- To foster spirit of research in fundamental and applied problems in medicine and also to train young post graduates in the spirit and methodology of research.
- To
organize postgraduate teaching in different
branches of medicine in integrated manner
and to groom suitable candidates for
postgraduate degrees and diplomas.
- To
encourage the development of different
medical specialties in coordinated way
and to offer facilities for practical
and advanced training as specialized
branches.
- To train medical graduates to become the future teachers and research workers.
- To
arrange refresher courses for medical
practitioners and for service personnel.
- To
establish a forum for the continued
progress in all branches of medical
sciences by coordinating the resources
available in various hospitals and institutions
in the state of West Bengal and also
for providing additional facilities
for research in various institutions.
Yet
another feather added to the hat of the
institution when Medical Council of India
(MCI) granted natural extension of the Institute's
Courses Curriculum with the introduction
of Graduate Medical Education on 1st August
2004.
Today,
the institution is best known for study
of undergraduate and post graduate level
medical course, specialist medical degrees
and diplomas, para medical courses and is
known as the Bethlehem of advanced medical
research. IPGMER is on its way to have autonomy
in medical education and with that, the
institute will have more action areas in
medical research and advancement. The institute
is celebrating its golden jubilee in this
year - 2007. The Hospital too has its own
glory. This year SSKM Hospital is celebrating
its tri-centenary.
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