Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in the capital will become Jharkhand’s first medical institution to offer doctorate of medicine (DM) in cardiology.

This superspecialty postgraduate course is likely to start in RIMS from this August, initially with two seats.

RIMS director Dr D.K. Singh told the media on Tuesday afternoon that this achievement came about after Medical Council of India (MCI) last month inspected RIMS.

“It is big achievement for RIMS. This came about after the visiting MCI team expressed its full satisfaction with the infrastructure available in our cardiology department to run a DM course,” the RIMS director said. “The duration of this full-time postgraduate course will be three years. Candidates will be selected through the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). We are starting with two seats but very soon the number of seats will become four,” Dr Singh.

He added that they received the letter from the MCI granting permission for the course on Monday.

Asked if RIMS had plans for DM courses in other departments, Dr Singh replied in the affirmative.

“A proposal (from our end) has been sent to start the same course in the neurosurgery and paediatric surgery departments,” he said.

Calling the development a big thing for young doctors in the state, RIMS Junior Doctor Association president Dr Ajit Kumar added, “Such a course was required in the state. Now Jharkhand will be able to produce two DMs in cardiology every year. Before, Jharkhand students had to go running to medical colleges in metros for this specialised course.”

RIMS, a medical institute of Ranchi University, is also an autonomous body established under an Act of Jharkhand Assembly. Established in 1960 as Rajendra Medical College Hospital after India’s first President Rajendra Prasad, it became known as RIMS in 2002 following an upgrade and is known as the premier medical college and state-run hospital in Jharkhand.