More AIIMS pass-outs work abroad

A study finds as many as 52.81% of AIIMS pass-outs are now working abroad, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: Dec 26, 2006, 20:17:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Study in India and work abroad appears to be the mantra for a majority of pass-outs from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

In a study on pass-outs from AIIMS since 1956 till 2003, the Media Studies Group has found that as many as 52.81 per cent of students are now working abroad. For 87 per cent of them, the hot destination is United States and in US, a majority work in New York and California.

In US, a large number of AIIMS graduates are practicing cardiology and internal medicine, the study said.

Based on the data published in AIIMSONIANS Directory and Encyclopedic Directory of the AIIMSONIANS OF AMERICA (AOA), the study said the other favorite destinations for them is Europe, Australia, Canada and United Kingdom.

Responding to the study, AIIMS spokesperson Shakti Gupta said the institute has no policy of retaining a student in India after he or she graduates. "If such a condition has to be imposed it is for the Central Government to decide," he said.

For AIIMS, which spends Rs 20 lakh to make a doctor, Gupta said, the study shows its 'marvelous' global rating. "Our students are welcome in the top hospitals in the world even though they come from diverse backgrounds," he said. "There is no doubt over this," Anil Chamadia of the Media Studies Group admitted, but added that the study points out where most doctors from the country's top medical institute are going.

The study also said that of the 41 per cent who stayed back in India, only 29 per cent are working in non-metro cities or rural areas. Two-third of the 41 per cent are based in Delhi alone. When it comes to Armed Forces, participation of AIIMS pass-outs is just 1.15 per cent.

Chamadia said they tried to do social profiling of the graduates but data from AIIMS was not available. "We had data only on Muslim students," he said. What Chamadia found is not good news for Muslims as only 49 of the total 2129 pass-outs were Muslims.

Email Chetan Chauhan: chetan @hindustantimes.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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