Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research Kolkata was established in 1707. The Institute initially started functioning inside the premises of Old Fort at Gerstein Place. IPGMER Kolkata was earlier known as Presidency hospital, which was built for the Europeans. The hospital was later shifted to Lower Circular Road. The name was later changed to the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research on 16th January, 1957, which was inaugurated by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India. The institute offers undergraduate, postgraduate, diploma and doctoral programmes related to various disciplines.

Way back in 1707, the first hospital in Calcutta was built in the premises of the Old Fort at Gerstein Place. The Council of Fort William constructed this hospital. This hospital, initially built for the Europeans, was then known as Presidency Hospital. The hospital was accommodated in a single storied building. Later, in 1768, two houses were purchased in Lower Circular Road for converting them into a full fledged hospital. Located near the Presidency Jail, the hospital came to be known as Presidency General Hospital. Doors were opened to the non-European patients from 2nd April 1770. The Presidency General Hospital was best known as PG Hospital till 1954 when it was named in the Independent India, as Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital. The naming was done to commemorate the name of the great donor Sukhlal Karnani. People started addressing the Hospital as SSKM Hospital.

It was then a practice that the Indian medical graduates used to go abroad for studying post graduation and higher medical research. Government felt necessary of opening Post Graduate Medical Learning Centres. PG Hospital was honoured to be the first Post Graduate Medical Institute in Eastern India in 1957.From 16th January 1957, the hospital came to be known as The Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGMER). The institute was inaugurated by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, on 16th January, 1957. Since then the institute is best known as a Medical Learning Centre of Excellence and a Specialty Hospital, with the following objectives.Today, the institution is best known for study of undergraduate, post graduate and post doctoral level medical courses, specialist medical degrees and diplomas, para medical courses, nursing courses in UG, PG and Under school level and is known as the Bethlehem of advanced medical research.

Location:-

Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research is located in Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Rd, Bhowanipore, Kolkata, West Bengal. The nearest airport from the Institute is the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport which is located 22 km away and students can reach the campus in about 44 mins. The nearest railway station from IPGMER Kolkata is the Sealdah Railway Station which is 5.6 km away. Students can hire an auto or a taxi to reach the campus in about 18 mins. Rabindra Sadan Metro Station is the nearest metro station from the Institute which is 1.3 km away and students can reach the campus in approximately 5 mins from there.