AIIMS faculty association seeks opinion on proposal to assign names to all 23 institutes

After the government firmed up to give specific names to all 23 AIIMS including that in Delhi, based on regional heroes, freedom fighters, historical events or monuments of the area or their distinct geographical identity, the Faculty Association of AIIMS- Delhi (FAIMS) has now sought the opinion of its members on names for all 23 AIIMS in the country and contended that it might lead to loss of its identity. 

Notably, a note circulated among its members, which was signed by FAIMS president Dr. Achal Kumar Srivastava and general secretary Dr. Harshal Ramesh Salve said “identity is linked with the name and if the identity is lost, institutional recognition is lost both within the country and outside. And, that is why famous and established universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard continue to have the same name for centuries."

The note, which was circulated on September 2, further said, “In India, IITs have a name recognition which gives them an institution’s identity and there is no proposal to change it. The same is true for IIMs.”

Further explaining the sense of identity, the note said that originality holds importance and that is the reason why Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras Universities continue with the same name even though the cities they are located in have changed their names to Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai. 

According to the note, giving a specific name to AIIMS, New Delhi will lead to a severe loss of identity and demoralization. Institutional recognition will be lost and it will adversely affect the standing of India internationally as far as medical education, patient care, and research are concerned. Notably, AIIMS Faculty members have been asked to respond within two days.

Other AIIMS set up under PMSSY are distinguished only by location 

According to PTI, some of the 23 AIIMS are learned to have submitted a list of names, after the Union Ministry of Health sought suggestions from them in this matter. 

While most of the AIIMS are operational, others are being set up under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Yojana (PMSSY) and are presently known by their generic name AIIMS. They are distinguished only by their location. 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.

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.