Jalpaiguri, Jan. 14: Bengal chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will formally inaugurate a B. Pharma course in the oldest pharmacy institute in the country tomorrow.

The Institute of Pharmacy, known as the Jackson Medical College prior to independence, had been demanding the introduction of the course to enable students to earn a bachelor’s degree. Earlier, the institute would offer diplomas.

Though classes for the course commenced in August last year, it will be formally inaugurated tomorrow by the chief minister, who will also lay the foundation stone for a new building in the institute.

Principal of the institute, Mihir Chatterjee said: “The course started last year with sixty students who were inducted through the Joint Entrance Examination. With the introduction of this course there will be 17 more lecturers in the college. A new building is also being constructed for this purpose.”

The Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association had lobbied hard for the course, which is now mandatory for running medicine shops. They had also demanded night classes so that they could continue running their businesses while taking the course.

The association has also agreed to help the institute with funds to enable smooth functioning. Funding has always been a major source of worry for the college, which is now gearing up to earn recognition from the University Grants Commission, which will enable it to introduce a M. Pharma course.

“We hardly get any grants, except for the purpose of paying salaries. We have recently worked on a fresh proposal in this regard which we will submit to the government soon,” said Chatterjee.

Students welcomed the introduction of the course, saying it would benefit the region as the area’s rich herbal resource base could be exploited to develop and manufacture herbal drugs.