All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was established in 1956 as an autonomous institution in all aspects of health care. The foundation stone was laid in 1952 with the help of a generous grant from New Zealand under the Colombo Plan. Located in New Delhi, the Institute has comprehensive facilities for teaching, research and patient-care and is considered one of the best medical institutions in India. It is considered as the best public hospital in the country and is globally recognised for providing low-cost medical care to a large number of patients. It is one of India's Institutes of National Importance, a distinguished category of premier institutions including the IITs, NITs, Indian Statistical Institute, ICAR etc.
The Institute has comprehensive facilities for teaching, research and patient-care. AIIMS conducts teaching programs in medical and para-medical courses both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and awards its own degrees. Teaching and research are conducted in 42 disciplines. In the field of medical research AIIMS is the lead, having more than 600 research publications by its faculty and researchers in a year. AIIMS also runs a College of Nursing and trains students for B.Sc.(Hons.) Nursing post-certificate) degrees.
Twenty-five clinical departments including four super specialty centers manage practically all types of disease conditions with support from pre- and Para-clinical departments. 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.
