AIIMS: Transforming medical education and healthcare in India

The Government of India is working towards establishing one AIIMS center in every state. Currently, the country has 22 AIIMS, in addition to three under development.

India got its first All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi in 1956. It was established to demonstrate a high level of medical education and to provide quality healthcare services in India. Surprisingly, though, it took 56 years to establish the second AIIMS centre in the country. It was in 2012 in Bhopal.

Over the last decade, there has been massive expansion in the network and currently, the country has 22 AIIMS, in addition to three under development. 

AIIMS: The inception

India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had a long-standing dream of creating a centre of excellence in medical sciences in newly independent India. The country’s first health minister, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, shared the vision of building a premier institute for postgraduate medical education and research in the country. 

From introducing the bill in parliament to getting funds, and laying the foundation stone of AIIMS in 1952, the two visionaries worked together on their dream project. AIIMS Delhi was finally established as an autonomous institute in 1956 through an Act of Parliament and was designated an institute of national importance.

Ground reality

While the institute did hold up to the vision with which it was established, the ground reality of Indian healthcare leaves much to be desired. Private healthcare facilities and consultations are too costly and not easily accessible for a large stratum of the population. Government healthcare facilities may be more economical, but they mostly lack infrastructure, reliability and quality. 

Physical reach is another constraint, as most hospitals in rural or semi-urban areas are located at a far-off distance and accessing them becomes difficult, especially when patients are in dire need of treatment. And even if a hospital is accessible, there is the issue of lack of experienced doctors and staff, which leads to long waiting periods and often, treatment delays. As a result, most Indians struggle to get access to even basic healthcare.

Beacon of hope 

In such a scenario, AIIMS endeavoured to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for all Indians. It enabled citizens to seek consultation from some of the best and most qualified doctors in the country. The Out Patient Department (OPD) consultation charges are as low as Rs 10, while lab tests and diagnoses are available at subsidised rates, as are the medicines. 

Understandably, patients from across the country made a beeline for AIIMS Delhi, leading to overcrowding and consequently, treatment delays. The rising number of patients started overburdening the infrastructure and causing a shortage of beds. Those who were unable to seek treatment were ultimately left with the same dilemma of choosing between private and government facilities.

The Expansion

On noticing the dismal state of healthcare in the country, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee decided to expand the network of AIIMS. In 2003, he announced that “six new AIIMS with modern facilities like those available at AIIMS Delhi will be established in six states in the next three years” under the umbrella of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

Vajpayee’s idea did bear fruition, but not during his tenure, as the NDA Government was eventually voted out of power. The six new centres were set up during the UPA regime under the AIIMS Amendment Act, 2012 in Bihar (Patna), Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Odisha (Bhubaneswar), Rajasthan (Jodhpur) and Uttarakhand (Rishikesh).

Growing the network 

Recognising the urgent need to expand the AIIMS network to cater to the needs of the growing population, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the establishment of 16 new AIIMS between December 2020 and January 2025.

India has come a long way since the time Nehru and Kaur collaborated to establish AIIMS Delhi. Apart from transforming access to healthcare in the country, AIIMS has also helped prioritise excellence in medical education. In 2014, India had 82,000 undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats. Today, the number has increased by more than 60,000, with AIIMS contributing heavily to this. 

Currently, the Government of India is working towards establishing at least one medical college in every district of the country and one AIIMS in every state. The goal is to make healthcare accessible and affordable for every citizen. It’s not an easy task, but AIIMS can help make it a reality. 

Read More: https://h-leads.com/india-at-75-indias-healthcare-has-made-remarkable-progress/