All India Institute of Medical Sciences is an autonomous group of government medical colleges that provide higher medical education. AIIMS has been declared as Institutes of National Importance by an Act of Parliament. AIIMS New Delhi is the forerunner institution which was established in the year 1956. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences Act, 1956 is governing AIIMS New Delhi.
At present, there are 7 AIIMS institutions in the country: AIIMS New Delhi (1956), AIIMS Bhopal (2012) AIIMS Jodhpur (2012), AIIMS Bhubaneswar (2012), AIIMS Raipur (2012), AIIMS Patna (2012), AIIMS Rishikesh (2012).
The availability of MBBS seats in AIIMS rose to 42,169 from the 2013-2014 academic session. The health ministry is planning to maintain the doctor-patient ratio of 1:1000 by the end of 2021. At present, the ratio is 1:2000. The government of India is planning to increase MBBS seats to 80 thousand and PG seats to 45 thousand from the present 22,194 by the year 2021. The main goal is to reduce the scarcity of doctors.
The government is planning to start AIIMS institutes at Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Gujarat. From 2014, the Minister of Finance is announcing budgets, new institutes, and sites every year to expand AIIMS and its services.