Postgraduate medical courses in three departments are likely to be introduced in Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) from the current academic year.

Puranjay Saha, the MMCH vice-principal, said that a team of the National Medical Commission had recently visited the college in response to their request for approval of the new postgraduate courses.

“The team expressed satisfaction with the infrastructure and have hinted that they would issue the approval soon. Once we get their nod, we will start PG courses in gynaecology, microbiology and ENT,” he said.

According to him, initially, there will be five seats each for postgraduate courses in gynaecology and microbiology and three seats in ENT.

As of now, PG courses are offered in paediatrics at the MMCH. It has five seats. Once the new courses start, the total number of PG seats will increase to 18, said Saha.

At the college, there are 125 seats for the MBBS course, the second highest in any medical college of north Bengal.

While the authorities are confident that new PG courses will commence at the college, what bothers them is the lack of adequate faculty members.

“Right now, around 31 per cent of the total vacancies of teaching doctors are lying vacant at the MMCH as some of them have been transferred to other medical colleges. We think those would be filled up in due course and hope to get approval of some additional teaching posts once these three PG courses commence in our institution,” said a faculty member.