AIIMS has become a great name to reckon with and a landmark of the developments and breakthroughs in the sphere of medical education.

The brain child of Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, AIIMS was an attempt to generate a climate of science in independent India. It was established in 1956 through an act of Parliament as an autonomous institution to serve as a nucleus for fostering excellence in all aspects of the health care system.

There were practically no facilities for post-graduation in medical sciences and most of the students went to the United Kingdom for higher learning. The health manpower and the health delivery system needed enormous expansion, and the country had to aim at self sufficiency in training programmes specifically designed for its needs.

In 1943, the Government of India appointed the Health Survey and Development Committee headed by Sir Joseph Bhore. The Bhore Committee recommended that the country needed more Institutions for training different categories of health personnel and for improving their education in accordance with modern trends.

To make a beginning, they recommended at least one such centre should be established and be named the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. For this purpose a munificent grant of one million pounds was provided by the Government of New Zealand under the Colombo Plan.

Being an autonomous Institution of national importance, AIIMS awards its own medical degrees. Courses in medical and para-medical fields both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels are offered by the Institute.

Teaching and research is conducted in 42 disciplines at the Institute. AIIMS also runs a College of Nursing and trains students for B.Sc. (Hons) Nursing post-certificate) degrees.

A team of excellent doctors at the twenty-five clinical departments including four super specialty centers manage practically all types of disease conditions. However, burn cases, dog-bite cases and patients suffering from infectious diseases are not entertained at the AIIMS Hospital.

AIIMS also manages a 60-beded hospital in the Comprehensive Rural Health Centre at Ballabgarh in Haryana and provides health cover to about 2.5 lakh population through the Centre for Community Medicine.