Monday, May 4, 2015

Kali Chaudhuri Stepping Stone


KPC Medical College and Hospital (KPCMCH) has the unique distinction of being the first private medical college in West Bengal. It was set up in 2007 under a public-private partnership programme initiated by the KPC Group and the West Bengal government. The college received the approval of the Medical Council of India on May 2, 2008, to admit 150 students for the four and a half year’ MBBS course. It began its academic session in August last year. The college is affiliated to the West Bengal University of healthSciences.

KPC Medical College and Hospital is a registered society formed by a non-profit foundation sponsored by orthopedic surgeon and medical entrepreneur Dr. KaliPradip Chaudhuri. The fledgling institute has 21 departments, including forensic medicine, microbiology, psychiatry, anesthesiology, dermatology and anatomy. All the departments are under the charge of senior doctors, some of them specialists in their fields.

The college has 300 full-time faculty. “Our faculty is a mix of the young and old. We have some very senior teachers who are retired professors as well as junior lecturers who have just completed their MDs,” says medical director Dr. Saurabh Ghosh.

KPCMCH has received approval for setting up 750 beds. Currently, there are around 500 beds. Plans are on to set up more beds in future.

“Having a hospital on the premises helps students in getting first-hand knowledge of different diseases and the need for quality healthcare,” feels Dr. Ghosh.

The college prides itself in its infrastructure facilities. “ We have a spacious, state-of-the-art academic building, besides a modern library with a huge collection of text books, reference books, national and international journals. The library is a WI-FI zone where students have access to Internet facilities 24X7. Reference CDs, audio-visual aids and study materials are given to the students. All the students are provided laptops free of cost,” he says.

The course fee for the MBBS course is Rs 6 lakh, though those from the management and NRI quota have to pay Rs20lakh and Rs 30 lakh respectively (as of last year). The fees are likely to be revised this year. According to the guidelines set by the Supreme Court and the West Bengal Government last year for admission to private medical colleges, KPCMCH was allowed to admit 50 students from the state’s Joint Entrance Examination list, 77 under management quota and 23 under NRI quota. The seat allotment under different quotas may change this year.

The thrust area of KPCMCH is on research. The college has been conducting research on thalessemia in collaboration with the Hemophilia Society, Calcutta Chapter. “We have been providing free treatment and follow-up care to thalessemia patients. Besides, we have invested 40 lakh for setting up a hospital information network where information about patients can be accessed by any department by the click of a mouse. This would help in creating a database of information about carious types of diseases affecting the people of Calcutta and enable us to conduct research in these areas,” says Dr. Ghosh.

The college has been selected by the World HealthOrganization (WHO) as a participant in an international collaborative effort in preventing trauma deaths. KPCMCH is one of the 50 hospitals in India selected by the WHO for the project. The hospital will soon conduct drug trials for tuberculosis in collaboration with a foreign company.

The college also runs a nursing school and nursing college.  Besides, it also conducts courses in paramedical and physical medicine.


“We plan to start postgraduate courses in medicine in another five years.” Says Dr. Ghosh.

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