The director of the state health services expressed disappointment on Sunday that people here lack faith in doctors and patients go to other states, and even abroad, for treatment.
“People from the state are going to other states and countries for treatment. There has been a significant improvement in health infrastructure in the state, but this is still happening,” Siddhartha Niyogi said at a programme at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Sunday to mark the foundation day of the institution.
“We have to see why this is happening,” Niyogi said.
A steady stream of patients from Bengal goes to other parts of the country, especially south India, for treatment.
The Calcutta Medical College and Hospital has turned 190 and organised a series of events to mark the occasion.
The celebrations started on Saturday with a programme at the Town Hall. Former governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi delivered the keynote address.
The website of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital says: “In 1833 William Bentinck committee recommended a requirement of a medical college ‘for the education of the natives’”.
The website also says “the admission of the students were started on 20 February 1835. Out of about one hun-dred applicants, only twenty students were selected through a preliminary examination”.
Copies of an 1835 government order proclaiming the establishment of the country’s first medical college has been obtained from Asiatic Society, framed and put up on the campus of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
“We have got copies of the order proclaiming the establishment of the Calcutta Medical College. We have framed the copies and kept one in the principal’s room and another in the room of the ex-students’ association,” said Indranil Biswas, principal of the medical college.
On Saturday, 190 balloons were released at the Town Hall to mark the occasion.
Gandhi raised the issue of the significance of artificial intelligence in medicine. “In cardiac and cancer diagnosis, the work of artificial intelligence (AI) is going to be transformational. The government of India should set up a responsible regulatory body in AI in the matter of public health,” he said.
A cricket match between the current and former students of the medical
college was held on Saturday morning.
Abhik Ghosh, secretary of the Medical College Ex-Students’ Association, said scientific conferences will be held as part of the celebrations. “Current students will get the opportunity to interact with established doctors during these conferences,” he said.
Descendants of the families that had helped set up the college by giving land or financial or other forms of support were invited to the Town Hall programme. “We are indebted to all of them. If their ancestors were not there, Calcutta Medical College would not have been here today,” said Ghosh.
“We are also demanding better upkeep of the heritage buildings on the campus. There are many buildings that should be declared as heritage structures because of their association with history,” he said.
Kadambini Ganguly, one of the first women to have studied and practised medicine in India, was also remembered on Saturday. A picture of her was garlanded.