Established in 1948, the institute was nationalized and taken under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (West Bengal) in 1967.

[7][8] AGON is the annual cultural festival of Calcutta National Medical College, organised by the CNMC Students' Union.

[9] Since its inception in 1980 Agon has been one of the most sought after college festivals among the medical student fraternity in West Bengal.

Agon has witnessed stellar performances from Amit Trivedi, Arijit Singh, Neha Kakkar, Sunidhi Chauhan, KK (singer), Mohit Chauhan, Mohammed Irfan (singer), Shalmali Kholgade, Shraddha Pandit, Fossils (band), Euphoria (Indian band), Javed Ali, Neeraj Shridhar, Rupankar, Anupam Roy, Sidhhu, Pota etc.

The cultural festival embraces the likes of many famous celebrities of the country, drawing about 5000 footfalls a day.