Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research

The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) is a premier medical institute of India located in Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry), a town in southern India that lies on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. 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.

General information
JIPMER is a residential medical institution with its own campus. It has about 160 faculty and physicians and over 500 nursing, administrative and support staff. Every year it admits 75 undergraduate students and 50 postgraduate students.

History
In 1823, a medical college called the Ecole de Medicine de Pondicherry 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 Medicin Locale that allowed them to practice medicine in the colonial territories of France in India, but not in France.

In November 1956, in the wake of the de jure transfer of Pondicherry to India, the Government of India took over the college and renamed it simply as Medical College, Pondicherry. Later, for a short period it was called the Dhanvantri Medical College, and finally 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 Puducherry and spreads across 195 acres of a picturesque hillock known locally as Gorimedu. The campus contains the medical college, the hospital, the student and resident hostels, the staff quarters, a couple of banks, a post office, a temple, playgrounds and sporting fields. Broad tree-lined roads criss-cross 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
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 trend-setter 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 in co-ordinating all academic activities of the institute including teaching and research. There are 28 academic departments headed by Professors. Ancillary hospital service units are supervised by respective technical heads.

Principals
Dhanvantri Medical College, Pondicherry


 * Dr Leon Lapeyssonie - first principal
 * Dr. S. Vengsarkar

Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry


 * Dr D J Reddy - 1964 to 1970
 * Dr M Balasubrahmaniam
 * Dr D B Bisht

Directors

 * Dr M N Ghosh - first Director
 * Dr O P Bhargava
 * Dr S Chandrasekhar
 * Dr D S Dubey
 * Dr R Sambasiva Rao
 * Dr K B Logani
 * Dr P H Ananthanarayanan - first JIPMERite to become Director of JIPMER
 * Dr K S V K Subba Rao

Academics
The institute is affiliated to the Pondicherry University and 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 every year 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 in the past. Many textbooks have been authored by the faculty.

Courses
JIPMER offers a variety of courses. Undergraduate courses include MBBS, BSc (Medical Laboratory Technology) and BMRSc (Bachelor of Medical Record Science). Postgraduate courses include MD, MS, and Diploma in many specialities, MSc in Medical Biochemistry and PhD in several subjects. Super-speciality courses include MCh in Cardiothoracic surgery and MCh in Urology. Other courses include a certificate course in French, a higher diploma course in French, MRO and MRT.

Admission
Candidates to the various courses offered at JIPMER are selected based on an entrance examination followed by an interview. Entrance examinations are held once a year and 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 as well as on the official website.

MBBS course
JIPMER admits 75 students to the MBBS course once every year through an all-India entrance examination. Of the 75 seats, 20 seats are reserved for Puducherry natives, 26 seats are reserved for students of other states, 18 seats are reserved for Central Government nominations and 11 seats allotted for the Common All India Entrance Test by CBSE (AIPMT). The entrance examination is held once a year in May in Puducherry, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and other metropolitan cities for admission to the MBBS course that begins in August 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. Postgraduate diploma courses offered at JIPMER include DCH in Paediatrics, D Ortho in Orthopaedics and D Ophth in Ophthalmology. Superspeciality courses offered at JIPMER include DM in Cardiology and MCh in Urology and Cardiothoracic surgery.

Admission to these courses are made once every year based on an entrance examination that is held in Puducherry and Chennai. Approximately half the available postgraduate seats are reserved for those who have completed MBBS from JIPMER.

Other courses
Other courses offered at JIPMER include PhD courses in Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology, Microbiology and Pharmacology. Para-medical courses offered at JIPMER include BSc (MLT) and MSc in Medical Biochemistry.

Admission to these courses are made once every year.

Rankings
JIPMER has consistently been ranked in the top ten medical institutions in India. JIPMER was ranked 4th in the 2007 Doctor NDTV Survey and as the 2nd best medical college for undergraduate education and the 4th best medical college for postgraduate education by The Week in its February 5, 2006 issue. In India Today Magazine's college rankings, JIPMER was ranked 3rd in 1998, 3rd in 1999, 6th in 2000, 6th in 2001 , and 4th in 2006.

Student life
Undergraduate and postgraduate students at JIPMER hail from all over India as well as from abroad from countries like Bhutan, West Indies, the middle east, Malaysia, Nepal, South Africa, North African countries and Sri Lanka. Students hailing from Puducherry tend to stay at home and are colloquially known as the ‘day scholars’ while those hailing from outside Puducherry live in the on campus hostels and are known as the ‘hostelites’. The campus has 3 hostels for undergraduate men named Lister House, Osler House and Aschoff House, and 1 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. All hostels run their own messes that provide both north Indian and south Indian meals.

The MBBS students of JIPMER have their own student body called the JIPMER Students’ Association (JSA) that formally represents the interests of the undergraduate student body at the administrative level of the institution and organizes undergraduate student activities. Representatives of the student body are elected annually at a campus wide election. A similar, albeit smaller, body exists for the postgraduate students and is called the JIPMER Residents 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 within JIPMER compete in various cultural, literary and sporting events. Both the undergraduate men’s hostels and the undergraduate women’s hostel hold annual hostel days.

Alumni activities
JIPMER alumni, especially those that have graduate from the MBBS course, have formed several vibrant alumni communities and organizations. The largest is an online virtual community called Jipmer Net 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 in the first weekend of August every year at JIPMER that is attended by alumni from India and abroad. Several regional alumni organizations also exist including the JIPMER Alumni Association of North America (JAANA), the JIPMER Alumni Association of the United Kingdom (JAAUK) and the JIPMER Alumni Association of North India (JAANI).

Present status and events
In recent decades, government apathy and neglect towards JIPMER has led to deteriorating infrastructure and substantial number vacant faculty positions. In spite of this JIPMER remains one of the best medical institutions in India for undergraduate medical education.

However, as of 2007, things have changed and JIPMER is undergoing a major expansion. Funds have been allotted for the construction of a Super-Speciality block, a Trauma Care Centre, a Cancer Care centre and a Nursing college. Construction of the new facilities is going on in full swing.

The Indian government is currently considering a proposal to grant autonomy to JIPMER. If this comes to pass, JIPMER will become an autonomous medical institute.

To get insight into what life is really like in JIPMER, please visit http://jipmer.blogspot.com