Providing the best medicare to troops engaged in difficult duties across the length and breadth of the country demands highly trained professionals in various disciplines of medicine. Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune came into being to meet this demand on May 1, 1948 by an amalgamation of Army Medical Training Centre, Army School of Hygiene, Central Military Pathology Laboratory, School of Blood Transfusion and Army School of Radiology.
Over the years, AFMC has developed as one of the premier institutions of the defence services in the country. In its journey from inception to the present level, it has contributed significantly to the nurturing of specialists, general duty doctors, nurses and para-medicos of the defence services. Thirty academic departments have been functioning at AFMC. Training at AFMC is aimed at meeting the special requirements of defence services.
The college is responsible for providing the entire pool of specialists and super specialists to Armed Forces giving them in-service training. It operates a central registry of diseases for the Armed Forces and participates in AIDS control programmes of National Aids Control Organisation. The college also contributes its bit to military operations by sending various surgical teams to forward areas. It also conducts research in various medical subjects as well as in areas related to the morale and performance of the Armed Forces both during war and peace.
AFMC is affiliated to Medical, Dental and Nursing Councils of India, Universities of Pune, Mumbai and Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. It is the only medical college in Asia where government pays all expenses. Undergraduate students receive free tuition, free lodging and boarding and uniforms. It is the first medical college to include military medicine as a subject in its undergraduate syllabus.
The college also provides consultancy to National Health Organisation in surveillance of diseases, standardisation of drugs and insecticides and tests of various products for use in Armed Forces. Thrust is also put on medical research at AFMC. The departments at AFMC take up research projects either under departmental sponsorship or under the auspices of Armed Forces Medical Research Committee (AFMRC).
In addition to service-oriented projects, research in clinical and laboratory subjects is also carried out. AFMC has virology and bacteriology banks for these purposes. WHO has designated AFMC as a referral centre for conducting research in HIV and rickettsial diseases. Last year, AFMC took up 33 research projects. One important project among them was genetic sub-typing of HIV-1 among Armed Forces personnel.
Professional excellence demands an upgradation of knowledge and skills from time to time. The college provides immense opportunities by organising seminars, symposia, updates and continuing medical education programmes in various specialties. Last year, sixteen such events were organised which were attended by professionals from service and civil institutions. A workshop on �live interventional cardiology� was organised in which Lt Gen BN Shahi, DGAFMS, performed a complex angioplasty in triple vessel disease.
AFMC has earned reputation for its academic excellence. India Today, in its exclusive survey on academic institutes in India, has been consistently ranking AFMC among the first five medical colleges of India. Its last year survey ranked AFMC at third place amongst all medical colleges of India.
The college has an imposing structure symbolic of determination and timelessness. It is equipped with good teaching staff and state-of-the-art laboratories. The institution has grown substantially not only in infrastructure but also in the quality of education.
Armed Forces AIDS Control Organisation (ACO) at AFMC is responsible for prevention and control of HIV infection among Armed Forces. As a special initiative, a HIV Interest Group has been set up by the department of medicine to address the problems of HIV/AIDS patients.
AFMC is the second institution in the country to start a department of hospital administration in 1975. Over the years, the department has produced luminaries in the field who alongwith faculty and students of the department have contributed immensely towards the growth of Armed Forces hospitals. AFMC has one of the finest museums in South East Asia which displays all aspects of social health related to the Indian subcontinent.