INCULCATING THE JIPMER GENE

Tracing its origins to the ‘Ecole de Medicine de Pondicherry’ established by the French in 1823, as the first medical school in the country, the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), as it is called since 1964, has evolved with a unique medical education ethos. As early as 1977, the National Teacher Training Centre started training teachers in medical education and JIPMER faculty were motivated to carry out innovative teaching activities. What the National Medical Council now expects from its teachers was being done in JIPMER since the 1970s.

A thorough foundation of the basic sciences, followed by rigorous

We are striving to be a world leader among medical institutions by providing exemplary medical education, higher training, safe patient care, quality research and innovations through community collaboration DR RAKESH AGGARWAL DIRECTOR, JIPMER, PUDUCHERRY

bedside teaching by all clinicians starting from the junior-most postgraduate to the heads of the departments put its undergraduate training in a level of its own. The faculty and MBBS student interaction is awe-inspiring. The faculty strives hard to keep up-to-date with the latest in their fields and in medical education technology.

JIPMER is one of the few Indian institutions that provide teaching from undergraduate to super speciality and sub-specialties. Its success in providing the best treatment even to the underprivileged makes it a model of speciality care delivery. Apart from 1,000 MBBS students, there are 650 post-graduate and 100 super speciality medical students on the 192-acre campus. In addition to the 350-strong faculty, there are 4,500 employees as it has a 2,100-bed hospital that treats at least 8,000 outpatients a day. It is also expanding, with a campus at Karaikal and an outreach centre at Yanam. JIPMER seeks to be a model for health systems through innovations in education and patient-oriented research. It aims to develop compassionate, ethically sound professionals and provide service of the highest order across the healthcare continuum.

We had role models who instilled in us a sense of ethics and professionalism—the ‘JIPMER gene’. Many of our alumni were unable to work in institutions with questionable work ethics DR GITANJALI BATMANABANE PRO VICE-CHANCELLOR (MEDICAL SCIENCES), GITAM INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES & RESEARCH, VISAKHAPATNAM