AIIMS: Doctors’ Report

ESTABLISHED IN 1956, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AI­IMS), New Delhi, serves as the nucleus for nur­turing excellence in medical educa­tion and healthcare. The state-run facility is recognised in India and abroad as an institution that best combines excellent medical educa­tion with cutting-edge research and quality healthcare.

Since its inception, AIIMS Delhi has served as a role model and is recog­nised as a unique brand of excellence, ranking consistently at the top in its field as a medical college, hospital and institution on all competitive plat­forms. Its reputation attracts the best in faculty, students and scientists for education and research.

The AIIMS brand has become a unique entity, synonymous with pro­fessional dedication and excellence in service, leading to the creation of new AIIMS and AIIMS-like institutions all over the country. The faculty, students and staff are spearheading growth and development of medical knowledge, services, care and education all over the world.

Teaching is the foremost objec­tive of AIIMS, and it has excelled in imparting education to all healthcare professionals, including undergradu­ates, postgraduates, doctorates and paramedics. Its MBBS programme is a coveted one. In the last 65 years, the institution has trained thousands of specialists, super-specialists, PhD scholars and allied health experts, in­cluding nurses and paramedics. New departments, namely, the Department of Rheumatology, Geriatric Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine & Sleep Disorder have been created. Some of the new DM (Doctorate of Medicine) courses that have been started include those on Addiction Psychiatry, Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care, Critical Care Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Onco-Anaesthesia and Paediatric Oncology. Various MCh (Master of Chirurgiae) courses like Breast, Endocrine and General Surgery, Gynaecologic Oncology, Head-Neck Surgery and Oncology and Trauma Surgery have been initiated too. The institute’s new fellowship courses include Uro-Oncology, Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery, Renal Transplant Surgery, Paediatric Cardiac Anaesthe­sia, Epilepsy Surgery and Functional Neurosurgery, Spine Surgery, Aortic Surgery and Maternal Foetal Medicine.

The institution has continued to play the role of a mentor for other AIIMS, and conducted entrance ex­aminations and online counselling to select students for MD/MDS/DM/MCh, MBBS and BSc (Honours) Nurs­ing courses. In 2020-21, AIIMS enrolled 1,985 postgraduates and 1,101 under­graduates in various courses.

AIIMS provides observation and training opportunities to numerous visiting healthcare professionals from within the country and abroad. Annu­ally, the institution organises over 200 workshops, symposia, conferences, training and academic exchange pro­grammes in collaboration with vari­ous international universities like Harvard University, Stanford Univer­sity, University of Michigan, Erasmus University, Osaka University, Monash University, Alfred George Institute of Global Health, etc. It provides tele-ed­ucation to students in colleges within India and abroad, particularly to the under-served African nations.

The efforts to better under­stand, treat and prevent diseases are enhanced by the biomedical research enterprise. In 2020-21, the research community at AIIMS contributed to scholarship through its leadership in innovations and publications. Over 878 funded research projects were conducted and the institute attracted extramural research grants of more than `155 crore in cutting-edge areas. In addition, intramural grants of `16 crore were disbursed to talented young faculty members for undertaking 341 new research projects.

During 2020-21, the faculty and scientists of the institute published over 2,315 research papers in national and international journals. Essential to the enterprise of discovery and learn­ing at AIIMS is our Research Cell’s drive to develop newer methods for educating the next generation of re­searchers and scientists.

The faculty members of AIIMS are experts in their field and the in­stitution has spearheaded multiple national control programmes for healthcare delivery services under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The faculty members hold positions of eminence in various professional bodies, are members of editorial boards of prestigious medical journals, and serve on expert panels for various research bodies such as ICMR and Gates Foundation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises various depart­ments of AIIMS as collaborative cen­tres in their respective fields.

In the global fight against Covid-19, AIIMS led the national efforts in several areas. Its faculty not only coordinated the mentorship programme to enhance RTPCR testing for Covid-19 but also con­ducted webinars to train physicians in managing the pandemic.

About The Author

Randeep Guleria

Randeep Guleria is Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi