Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata


Calcutta Medical College, officially Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, is an Indian medical school and hospital. The school was established in 1835 by Lord William Bentinck as Medical College, Bengal during British Raj and is one of the oldest institutes teaching Western medicine in Asia.
It is the second medical college to teach European medicine in Asia after Ecole de Médicine de Pondichéry and the first to teach in the English language. The hospital associated with the college is the largest hospital in West Bengal. The college imparts the degrees Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery after completion of five and half years of medical training, amongst other qualifications.

Ranking

The college was ranked 19th among medical colleges in India in 2019 by Outlook India.

Politics

Politics among the students of the institution has rich traditions, with scores of students participating in the Indian freedom struggle. The anti-British movements were implemented in this campus with the programmes of Bengal Provincial Students' Federation, the Bengal branch of All India Students' Federation. Initial focus of student politics was on the independence of India. Many students were dismissed from their college or were gaoled during Quit India Movement in 1942. In 1947, a student of this college, Sree Dhiraranjan Sen, died on Vietnam Day police firing. The Vietnam Students’ Association passed a resolution in its Hanoi session in memory of the Indian student martyr in March 1947.
Students politics in this campus was highly influenced by the partition of Bengal and communal riots during and after the Independence. Between 1946 and 1952, medicos of this college stood for communal harmony and worked hard in the refugee colonies. During 1952, some of the ex-students of the college, among them Bidhan Chandra Roy who later became the second Chief Minister of West Bengal, took a major responsibility in the establishment of Students' Health Home for the welfare of students.
The students also took part in the Food Movement of 1959. On 31 August, ten students of the college were severely lathi charged by police. Junior doctors also took part in this movement. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s the college became a centre of leftist and then far-left politics. Students politics was highly influenced by the Naxalbari movement in early 1970s.

Cultural programmes

Aesculapia, a college cultural festival, was launched in 1976. Taking its name from Asclepius, the God of medicine in Greek mythology, it consisted of three days of inter-college competitive events of music, quizzes, debates, arts and drama. This festival has been replaced by another five-day festival, RHAPSODY, since 2002.

Notable alumni