Over 23 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) centres spread across India, now known based on their location, are set to get individual names.
A senior official at the Health Ministry confirmed that the institutes will be named after freedom fighters, regional heroes, historical events, notable monuments of the area, or their distinct geographical identity.
All the new AIIMS have suggested three to four names in categories of local heroes, freedom fighters, unsung heroes, or historical monuments. The Union Health Ministry and Family have also sought an explanatory note for the suggested names.
Currently, all AIIMS are known by their generic name and distinguished only by their location, an official explained. Out of 23 AIIMS, many are operational while others are being set up under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).
Suggestion regarding names has been given to AIIMS Bhopal, AIIMS Bhubaneswar, AIIMS Jodhpur, AIIMS Patna, AIIMS Raipur, and AIIMS Rishikesh, AIIMS Nagpur, AIIMS Raebareli, and AIIMS Madurai.
Notably, Six new AIIMS – Bihar (Patna), Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Odisha (Bhubaneswar), Rajasthan (Jodhpur) and Uttarakhand (Rishikesh) were approved in Phase 1 of PMSSY and are fully functional.
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MBBS classes and outpatient department services have been started in 10 institutes out of 16 AIIMS established between 2015 and 2022. While only MBBS classes have been started in another two, the remaining four institutes are at different stages of development.
“So, the Union health ministry has drafted a proposal to give specific names to all the 23 AIIMS, which include those fully functional, partially operational or under construction,” the source said.In this regard, suggestions were sought for assigning specific names to different AIIMS, which could be linked to local or regional heroes of prominence, freedom fighters, distinct geographical identity of the area where the institute is located and prominent historical events or monuments of the region,” the source explained.