Dhaka Medical Coleege Alumni Australia at a Glance
In 1939, the Dhaka university council requested that the British Government establish a separate
medical college in Dhaka. The proposal was postponed because of the onset of the Second World War. During that time, the medical centre building became an American armed forces hospital. The Americans vacated the building at the end of the war.
Dhaka Medical College was established in 1946. It is situated in the Bakshibazar area of the city. The academic class started on 10 July which is celebrated as “DMC DAY”. The 1st year, beginning class, or ‘Batch’, was named K-5, 2nd year K-4, 3rd year K-3, 4th year K-2, and 5th year K-1. All the advanced students (K-4 through K-1) had transferred from the Calcutta Medical College, in large part because of the partition of India. At first there were no female students, but now about half of the students are females.
The college’s original building was built before the Partition of Bengal of 1905; being used, as of 1904, as the secretariat (headquarters) of the newly formed provinces of East Bengal and Assam; then, in 1921, turned over to the University of Dhaka, which was founded that year. At that time a part of the huge building was used as the university’s medical centre, another part as the students’ dormitory and the rest as the office of the administrative wing of the Arts faculty.
In 1939, the Dhaka university council requested that the British Government establish a separate medical college in Dhaka. The proposal was postponed because of the onset of the Second World War. During that time, the medical centre building became an American armed forces hospital. The Americans vacated the building at the end of the war.
Major W. J. Virgin, the head of the committee formed to establish the Dhaka Medical College, was the first principal. In the beginning there were only four departments, Medicine, Surgery, Gynaecology and Otolaryngology (ENT). Since the college did not initially have Anatomy or Physiology departments, the students at first attended those classes at Mitford Medical School (now the Sir Salimullah Medical College); but, after a month, Professor of Anatomy Pashupati Basuand and Professor of Physiology Hiralal Saha joined the staff and their specialties were taught in ward no. 22 of the hospital.
There was no lecture hall nor dissection gallery at first. These needs were met after the construction of new academic buildings in 1955. The college did not have any student housing. Male students were allowed to reside in the Dhaka University’s student halls, but female students did not have the use of that facility. The college and hospital premises were expanded with temporary sheds, some of which were built for outdoor services of the hospital and some for student housing. New buildings for housing, college, and hospital were constructed in phases: a dormitory for girls in 1952, a dormitory for male students in 1954–55, a new complex of academic buildings in 1955, and a dormitory for internee doctors in 1974–75. Over time, the original 100-bed hospital has grown to become Bangladesh’s largest hospital. After adding the 500 beds in 2013, DMCH now has 2300 beds.