Sir Salimullah Medical College was established in 1961 as Dhaka Medical School in the old part of the capital city, Dhaka. Mitford Hospital was a part of the school. Donations from sixteen local nawabs and philanthropists financed the erection of a dedicated medical school building in 1889. The school was made a medical college in 1962. To acknowledge the contributions of the nawabs, the college was named after Nawab Sir Salimullah. Until 1957 the License of Medical Faculty degree was offered by this college. During 1963–1972 condensed courses for the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree were offered. In 1972 the school was upgraded as a full-fledged medical college and the first MBBS students enrolled in 1973. The civil surgeon of Dhaka was in charge of both the college and the hospital until 1974, when a principal and a superintendent were appointed for the above institutions. The superintendent was later made the director of the hospital.
Campus
It is located at Mitford Road, Babubazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. There are eight hostels in this medical college. The main hostel and its extension, BDS hostel, Alauddin hostel, three ladies hostels, Internee hostel and Internee Hostel.
Academics
The medical college consists of the following departments: preclinical, paraclinical, clinical medicine, paediatrics, surgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngorhinology, anesthesiology, gynaecology and obstetrics, and diagnostic. In the year 2012 college also started the undergraduate course in dentistry and 67 students has been admitted in this year. The medical college possesses a 600-bed general hospital including OPD and IPD services in the above disciplines and an integrated emergency department. Between 190 and 200 students with pre-medical A-level education are admitted each year through open competitive medical examination for undergraduates. Students are awarded undergraduate MBBS & BDS degree after five years' study in college and hospital and four professional examinations under the University of Dhaka. Then, they do one year full residency training in the hospital to get registration from BMDC for practising medicine in Bangladesh. It is one of the most reputed medical college in South Asia and is widely regarded as one of the country's top medical schools. The undergraduate program of this college is recognised by General Medical Council of UK. The medical college provides post graduate education in surgery, medicine, gynaecology and obstetrics. The degrees awarded are MD, MS and diplomas.
