IIT Kharagpur will soon be the first technical institution in the country to offer a medicine course. The first batch will start in 2020-21 with a limited seat of only 50 students. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya, the Deputy Director for IIT KGP, who is also the in-charge of setting up the medical college, said that the first phase of construction of Dr. B C Roy Institute of Medical Science and Research will be over by June this year and the hospital will be operational by next year. As per regulation, the institute will begin offering MBBS programme in another three-year time in 2020-21. The medical institute is being constructed on an 18 acre land in the Balarampur area adjoining IIT Kharagpur.
The MBBS course will take help of the upcoming 400-beds super speciality hospital in the campus with a span of three acres, for the teaching facility. For this purpose, the Union HRD ministry has already sanctioned Rs 150 crore.
The admission process for the MBBS degree has not been finalised yet, but most probably it will conduct its own entrance test like it is conducting for the engineering courses and not necessarily depend on the NEET.
“As per rule, IITs cannot offer medical courses. So this project will work as a special purpose vehicle. We will not run it directly but create a registered society. IIT-KGP will sign an MoU with the society so that functioning of the hospital can be in sync with IIT system,” said the Deputy Director for IIT KGP.