The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) is a medical school in India. It is located at Pondicherry, the capital of the union territory of Puducherry, in southern India . JIPMER is an Indian central government funded institute with autonomy[1][2][3] to run its internal administration. JIPMER is both an educational institute that imparts undergraduate and postgraduate medical training and a working hospital that provides inexpensive medical care to a large number of patients. JIPMER is an institute of national importance[4][5] and a tertiary care referral hospital that is under the direct administrative control of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Lecture halls building
JIPMER is a residential medical institution with its own campus spread over 195 acres (0.79 km2). It has about 200 faculty and 360 resident physicians and over 3,000 nursing, administrative and support staff. Every year it admits 100 undergraduate students and 75 postgraduate students.
History
JIPMER originated on 1 January 1823 as "Ecole de Médicine de Pondichéry," a medical school established by the French imperial government in India to train French citizens in Pondichéry.[6] In 1956 the government of India took over administration of Puducherry from the French and renamed it as "Dhanvantri Medical College".[6] After Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's (who laid the foundation stone after Indian government's takeover of the institution)A death on May 27, 1964, it was again renamed to "Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research" (JIPMER) (on 13 July 1964).[6]
In 1863, a medical college called the Ecole de Médicine de Pondichéry was established by the French government in Pondicherry. It was one of the earliest institutions of tropical medicine and the teaching staff consisted of surgeons and doctors of the French navy and troupes colones. Students who were trained here were granted a diploma called Médicin Locale that allowed them to practice medicine in the colonial territories. With the de jure transfer of Puducherry to India, the Government of India took over the college and renamed it simply Medical College, Pondicherry. For a short period, it was called the Dhanvantri Medical College and, on July 13, 1964, it was rechristened as the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research. Today, the institution is universally known by the acronym JIPMER.
Under the French, the college was located in the heart of the town of Pondicherry in the modified buildings of the high court, opposite Le place de Gaulle, which is now the Legislative Assembly Hall. In 1959, SE Le Comte Stanislas Ostrorog, Ambassadeur de France aux Indes, laid the foundation stone of the new medical college building that was located on the outskirts of the town and, in 1964, the college moved to its new campus at Gorimedu.
Campus
The campus of JIPMER lies at the western entrance of Pondicherry and spreads across 195 acres (0.79 km2) of a picturesque hillock known locally as Gorimedu. The campus contains the medical college, the old and new hospital blocks, the student and resident hostels, the staff quarters, a branch of a nationalised bank, two ATM's, a post office, a temple, playgrounds and sporting fields. Broad tree-lined roads crisscross the campus and the lush tropical vegetation forms a green canopy that hides most buildings on campus. While the hospital section of the campus is typically crowded and busy, the residential part of the campus is quiet and idyllic, punctuated with small parks, hidden statues and secluded spots.
Organization
Administrative block
JIPMER is under the direct administrative control of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
The three main functions of this institute are to impart quality education in undergraduate and postgraduate medical and paramedical courses, to be a trendsetter in medical research and to offer patient care of high order.
The institute is headed by the director as the chief executive charged with overall responsibility of running the institute and the hospital. The dean helps the director coordinate all academic activities of the institute including teaching and research. The Medical Superintendent helps the director coordinate all the hospital functions pertaining to patient care. There are 28 academic departments headed by professors. Ancillary hospital service units are supervised by respective technical heads.
Principals of Dhanvantri Medical College, Pondicherry
Dr Leon Lapeyssonie - first Principal
Dr. S. Vengsarkar
Directors of JIPMER
Dr M N Ghosh - first Director
Dr O P Bhargava
Dr P Bahadur
Dr S Chandrasekar
Dr D S Dubey
Dr R Sambasiva Rao
Dr K B Logani
Dr P H Ananthanarayanan (first JIPMER alumnus to become Director of the Institute)
As an Institute of National Importance, JIPMER is not affiliated to any university and it awards its own degrees. (Earlier, the institute was affiliated to Pondicherry University.) It offers a number of medical and paramedical courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Admission to the courses are made on all-India basis and strictly on the basis of merit through entrance examinations.
The institute conducts research actively in modern medicine, public health and medical education. A research council at the institute level looks after the research activities and a scientific society provides a forum for presenting research work. Numerous conferences, workshops, seminars and training courses are conducted by the institute every year. Funds for research come from mural and extramural sources like the ICMR, UGC, DBT, WHO, etc. The faculty, the residents and the students publish research papers regularly in journals of national and international repute as well as present research abstracts at national and international conferences.
In addition, frequently a number of awards and fellowships are won by the faculty. Important national journals like the Indian Journal of Pharmacology and the Indian Journal of Urology have been published from JIPMER. Many textbooks have been authored by the faculty.
Courses
JIPMER offers a variety of courses. Undergraduate courses include MBBS, BSc (Medical Laboratory Technology), BMRSc (Bachelor of Medical Record Science). BSc (Nursing) was started in 2006. Postgraduate courses include MD, MS, and diploma in many specialties, MSc in Medical Biochemistry and PhD in several subjects. Super-specialty courses include MCh in cardiothoracic surgery, urology, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, paediatric surgery, gastro intestinal surgery and DM in cardiology, neurology, urology, neonatology, clinical pharmacology and immunohematology. Other courses include a certificate course in French, a higher diploma course in French,EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIN COURSE
MRO and MRT.
Admission
Candidates to the courses offered at JIPMER are selected based on an entrance examination followed by an interview. Entrance examinations are held once a year; calls for applications are announced in all major newspapers in India as well as on the official website. The results of the entrance examinations and the names of selected candidates are published in the newspapers and on the official website.
MBBS course
JIPMER admits 127 students to the MBBS course once every year through an all-India entrance examination. Some seats are reserved for Puducherry natives and Central Government nominations. There are no seats available through AIPMT(now NEET). The entrance examination is held once a year in June in Pondicherry, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and other metropolitan cities for admission to the MBBS course that begins in July of the same year.
Postgraduate courses
Three-year postgraduate courses offered at JIPMER include MD in General Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Pathology, Microbiology, Physiology, Pharmacology, Paediatrics, Anaesthesiology, Dermatology, Biochemistry, Community Medicine, TB & RD and Psychiatry and MS in General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, Ophthalmology, Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Anatomy.
Other courses
B.Sc. Nursing.
Four years professional course. Admissions are based on entrance exams.
Student life
Undergraduate and postgraduate students at JIPMER hail from all over India as well as from countries and areas like Bhutan, West Indies, the Middle East, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, South Africa, North Africa and Sri Lanka.
The campus has three hostels for undergraduate men — Lister House, Osler House and Aschoff House — and one hostel for postgraduate men named Harvey House. Undergraduate women live in Curie House, postgraduate women in Blackwell House, and the nursing students live in Nightingale House and New Nursing Hostel. All hostels run their own messes that provide north and south Indian meals.
The students union is the JIPMER Students Association (JSA). This students union is very weak compared to the one in the sister institute of AIIMS, which is famous for protecting student rights and keeping student interests. Representatives of the student body are elected annually in a campus-wide election. A similar, albeit smaller, body exists for the postgraduate students and residents and is called the JIPMER Resident Doctors’ Association (JRDA).
The inter-collegiate cultural, literary and sports festival of JIPMER is called Spandan and is held in late August and early September every year and is organized by the JSA. In addition, the JSA holds annual inter-class competitions where undergraduate students at JIPMER compete in cultural, literary and sporting events. The undergraduate men’s and women’s hostels hold annual hostel days.
Alumni groups
JIPMER alumni, especially those who have graduate from the MBBS course, have formed several vibrant alumni communities and organizations.
The largest is an online virtual community called Jipmernet where alumni from all over the globe are active participants.
The oldest alumni organization is the JIPMER Alumni Association (JAA) that organizes an annual meet the first weekend of August at JIPMER that is attended by alumni from India and abroad.
In recent decades, government apathy and neglect towards JIPMER has led to deteriorating infrastructure and a substantial number of vacant faculty positions. In spite of this, JIPMER remains one of the best medical institutions in India for undergraduate medical education.
As of 2007, things have changed and JIPMER is undergoing a major expansion. Funds have been allotted for the construction of a Super-Specialty block, a Trauma Care Centre, a Cancer Care centre and a Nursing college.
In April 2008 the Indian parliament passed a bill declaring Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) as an Institute of National Importance and thus granting it more budgetary allocation and autonomy. Provisions like same salary of staff, free treatment to poor patients and reservation for local students have been retained.
The construction of Super-Specialty block, Regional Cancer Centre and Nursing College and Nursing hostel for ladies have been entirely completed[10] and are fully functional.
Notable faculty and alumni
Dr Surinder Singh Yadav, eminent orthopaedician and recipient of the Padma Shree (2008)
Dr Mani Menon, eminent urologist and recipient of the B C Roy Award (2008)
Daisy Martin, RN Assistant Nursing Superintendent, JIPMER, received National Florence Nightingale Award 2009 from the President of India
