When I joined the Institute on 4th June, 2018 as the Director, I aimed to excel the Institute in all three fields namely Academics, Research and, Patient care. I also intended to enhance the patient care services and establish transparency in the process of recruitment, procurement and, other services. I am very pleased to share that we have succeeded to a great extent in fulfilling our commitments. This could have not been possible without the support of our faculty, officers, resident doctors, nursing officers, administrative, finance, engineering and other staff, the students and, most importantly my secretariat. We have achieved many milestones that are small in number, though vital in figure.

        The AIIMS, Bhopal is a huge establishment sprawling in 150 acres having a large hospital complex, residential complex, hostels, Medical College, Nursing College (Centre of Excellence in Nursing Education) and other essential services. At present the bed strength of the hospital services is 793 with 24 modular operation theatres, 42 functional departments that include 22 speciality, 14 super-speciality and 6 other departments, catering to an average footfall of around 46264 OPD per month and 1609 IPD patients per month.  The speciality services available at AIIMS, Bhopal include Anaesthesiology, Biochemistry, Community & Family Medicine, Dentistry, Dermatology, Dietetics, Emergency Medicine, General Medicine, General Surgery, Microbiology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Otorhinolaryngology (ENT-Head & Neck Surgery), Paediatrics, Pathology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, Radio-diagnosis & Imaging, Radiotherapy, Trauma & Emergency Medicine, Transfusion Medicine & Blood Bank, and AYUSH. The super-speciality services include Burns & Plastic Surgery, Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Endocrinology & Metabolism, Nephrology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Neonatology, Nuclear Medicine, Paediatric Surgery, Pulmonary Medicine & TB, Surgical Gastroenterology, Surgical Oncology, Urology and teaching departments of Anatomy, Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Hospital Administration,  and Nursing College.  Recently a new and Department of Translational Medicine has also been created, which is unique in the country. The AIIMS, Bhopal also has a Department of AYUSH to include Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.  On the construction front, AIIMS, Bhopal has 135 blocks. 

          The AIIMS, Bhopal is expected to accommodate distinct talents, deliver highly trained medical and paramedical human resources in the interests of the country and conduct research of national and regional health interest. The institute allows experimenting with innovations in medical education.   AIIMS, Bhopal is imparting a total of 9 courses through its Medical College and Nursing College.  These courses include MBBS, MD, MS, DM, MCH, PDCC, PhD and BSc Nursing (Hons) and MSc (Nursing).      

        AIIMS, Bhopal is one of the partners of National Knowledge Network (NKN) connecting 52 Medical Colleges all over the country to share updated knowledge in the field.  The prestigious scheme of Government of India ‘Ayushman Bharat’ under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana for the people who are in need of quality health care facility has also been initiated in AIIMS, Bhopal.

         For the first time for any AIIMS, the AIIMS, Bhopal has established a Centre for the Translational Medicine. This center will have dedicated faculty and state of the art infrastructure and equipment like Whole Genome Sequencer, automated Nucleic Acid extractor, Flow cytometer, Atomic absorption system, and the In-vivo image analyzer to conduct the drug and vaccine trial in animals. The faculty of this center will also be mandated to develop new diagnostic and human devices, drugs, vaccines, and systems based on artificial intelligence.   It is also important to mention that the Institute has started the Regional Virology Diagnostic Laboratory (RVDL) along with C& DST-TB Laboratory which is of first of its kind in the State. A 16 bedded MDR ward is also in the offing. The Institute has also established a Cancer Treatment Centre with a holistic approach in association with AIIMS, New Delhi.  Recently, AIIMS, Bhopal has also set up a Cancer Registry Center and a Poison Information Centre (PIC).

        The Institute has surpassed all other newly established AIIMS in the field of Research and has a dedicated Research Cell for coordinating the research activities in the Institute. A total of 233 Publications were made in the last two years. The Faculty of AIIMS, Bhopal is carrying out cutting-edge research mainly in the field of tuberculosis, cancer diagnostics, infectious diseases, chronic kidney diseases & environmental toxins, health care delivery system, severe acute malnutrition, effects of yoga on health and meditation and, antimicrobial stewardship, etc. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and the Madhya Pradesh Government have designated the AIIMS, Bhopal as centre of Excellence for COVID-19 Research. This Institute was first to start clinical trial of Mycobacterium w (Mw) for COVID-19 treatment. A total of 180 research proposals for extramural funding were submitted by the Faculty of AIIMS, Bhopal to different funding agencies in last one year and 45 projects have been approved for funding. The premier funding agencies include ICMR, DST, DBT, BIRAC, DHR, UNICEF, MP Govt. and the total grant outlay of projects sanctioned in this period is Rs 25.11 crores. Centre of Excellence in Labour, Delivery and Recovery (LDR), and Medical Device Adverse Event Monitoring Centre in Department of Pharmacology under the aegis of Indian Pharmacopia Commission, Ghaziabad have been established with Government funding. Institute has also started providing its laboratory facilities on short term basis for encouraging research activities.

 

        Further, through untiring efforts of the Institute, AIIMS, Bhopal is able to get huge CSR funding from PSUs as well as from private organizations, which is being utilized for establishing an instrumentation of state-of-art, high-end central facility at AIIMS, Bhopal. 

       Lastly, as we ring in a new decade, 2020 is time for us to put our words into action and likewise, AIIMS, Bhopal envisages a lot more development in terms of extension of Medical College Building, development of for 200 to 250 Bedded Vishram Sadan type of patient care facility  through CS ; development of Indoor sports complex with multipurpose hall; construction of Phase II Residential Complex of various accommodation categories; development of entertainment Park, herbal garden, more green campus ; to increase the self-dependency of the institute in terms of water resource capacity; for optimum energy conservation; a Rural Health Center at Chiklod with School of Public Health ; an International Vaccine Sciences centre with CSR funding; beside many other development works.

       The future looks bright as I imagine all the endless possibilities for AIIMS, Bhopal.  I am confident that we will continue to put our dedication and constant toil for steering our commitments towards the patients, humanity and the nation.