IPGMER and SSKM Hospital

HISTORY
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.

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.

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.

SERVICES
The hospital is situated in several buildings. The Main Building contains indoor wards of Surgery, Medicine and Paediatrics. The Eye-ENT complex contains the departments of Ophthalmology and OtoRhinoLaryngology. The Maternity Block is a separate 3-storied building that houses Gynaecology & Obstetrics. Orthopaedics Ward is situated in the ground floor of Woodburn Block. Psychiatry and Physical Medicine are situated in their own buildings. The OPD Block is in the eastern end of campus. The Casualty Complex has two buildings - One in the OPD complex, and the other in the New Emergency Ward in the north-east corner of campus

FACILITIES
All Specialty (like Medicine, Surgery, Ophthalmology etc) and Super-specialty (like Cardiology, Nephrology, Endocrinology etc) Indoor and Outdoor departments are there. Specialized facilities like Dialysis unit, 30-bedded ICCU, NICU, ICU, Burns Unit, Brachytherapy, DEXA Bone-Mineral Density equipment etc are available.

Imaging facilities include CT and MRI, 15 mA mobole to 800 mA static equipments, Digital Radiography etc.

Location

The Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGMER) is located on 34 acre of lush greenery on 244, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road, near Race Course ground of Kolkata. On its north, across the AJC Bose Road is the longest fly over of Kolkata and is the stunning and admiring Victoria Memorial, erected by Lord Curzon in the honour of Queen Victoria of England.

The horse racing ground of Royal Calcutta Turf Club along with a glimpse of the Vidyasagar Setu, the steel roped bridge, second in Asia.On the north east is the hub od Kolkata cultural hearts Nandan, Rabindra Sadan, Academy of Fine Arts. On the north lies the vast green field of Kolkata Maidan, the lung of City of Joy. The Institute is connected through motorable roads to Kolkata Aerodrome that is 14 km away and to the Key Railway Terminus Howrah and Sealdah those are 6 and 5 kilometers away.

The open space within the institute complex is covered by lush greenery contributed by the tall trees and green velvet lawns and flower beds. On one side of the premises remains the hospital buildings and on the other side are the learning centers for undergraduate and postgraduate learning centers, para-medical learning centers and the administrative building.

IPGMER and SSKM Hospital Degree Programs :

Medicine

Physiotherapy