Chronicles of Kanjisheik

AIIMS, PGI and JIPMER were set up around the same time in the decade after Independence. Each institute was located in a Union Territory, meant to be a "Centre of Excellence"- a tertiary care centre for patients in neighbouring areas. But something went wrong somewhere down the line. While AIIMS and PGI have become prestigious institutions, JIPMER has lagged behind, due to various obstacles.

One problem has been funding. JIPMER had been receiving a paltry sum of Rs 59 crores annually till 2005, compared to Rs 240 crores for AIIMS and Rs 160 crores for PGI. This has resulted in the lack of super speciality departments, poor facilities in labs, and even the existing features are not maintained well. But in the last two years, a lot of money is being pumped into JIPMER by the Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. A cancer ward, a super speciality block, an auditorium, and a nursing college are some of the high profile projects launched recently.

Another issue is the lack of autonomy. Since JIPMER is under the "direct" admininistrative supervision of the DGHS, every decision taken in JIPMER requires the sanction of the bureaucrats in the DGHS; decisions take years to be passed, thanks to red tape. But AIIMS and PGI are autonomous institutes, and hence they are able to implement their decisions faster and efficiently. The demand for autonomy has been going on and off for the past few decades in JIPMER. Ramadoss has made this one of his main objectives [for what reason, I cant fathom] and it seems like it will be achieved in his tenure.

Another curious point is the reservation of almost one third of the seats in a "national" college like JIPMER for students of Pondicherry. This is unnacceptable. Please note that I dont have a grudge against Pondy students. Its just that there are already five medical colleges and two more starting up, including the Pondicherry Govt Medical College, so there is no need for them to have a quota in JIPMER. A couple of decades earlier, the Delhi quota in AIIMS was scrapped for precisely the same reason: reservation on the basis of domicile is simply not possible in a national institution.

Now with the OBC quota coming into play, the seats in JIPMER will be increased from 75 to 125. This will put a strain on our facilities. So, autonomy will go a long way in helping the JIPMER Administration in this situation, and bring JIPMER back to its rightful place as one of the best medical colleges in India.