Patna: AIIMS-Patna is planning to start postgraduate courses by December.

"The five other new AIIMS - Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Rishikesh, Raipur and Jodhpur - have started postgraduate courses at their institutions in the past two years. Only AIIMS-Patna failed to do so because the standing selection committee had asked the institution to get its infrastructure and manpower reviewed by AIIMS-Delhi before starting the postgraduate courses. For the other All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, this methodology was not followed. So, we have become a little late in starting the postgraduate courses," said a source at AIIMS-Patna.

AIIMS-Patna started MBBS courses in 2012.

Among the various departments now planning to start postgraduate courses are general surgery, biochemistry, obstetrics and gynaecology, and medicine. AIIMS-Delhi faculty members have already inspected the biochemistry department, and inspections at other departments are lined up. For instance, general surgery will be reviewed on Sunday and medicine, anaesthesia and other departments next month.

Some departments are also planning to admit PhD students to boost research work.

A faculty member in the biochemistry department said inspection for four seats each for postgraduate and PhD was conducted on October 5. Shyam S. Chouhan, head of department, biochemistry, AIIMS-Delhi, reviewed the requisites needed to start the advanced courses.

"We have sufficient infrastructure and manpower in the department to start the courses. Various research, including one on molecular oncology (cancerous stem cell), is already being conducted in the department. Starting the PhD course would, however, boost research work because it would be approved under the PhD programme," said the AIIMS-Patna faculty member on condition of anonymity.

Another faculty in general surgery said they are up for inspection for two postgraduate seats by Anurag Srivastava, head of the department at AIIMS-Delhi, on Sunday.

"During the inspection, they are supposed to check the number of patients coming to the outpatient department and indoor wing of the hospital apart from the facilities available such as blood bank and patient data," said a senior doctor at AIIMS-Patna. "At present, the blood bank is not functional at AIIMS-Patna but the process has been expedited."

AIIMS-Patna project had been moving ahead at snail's pace before work was expedited in the past few months. Director Prabhat Kumar Singh has claimed the hospital would be fully functional in the next six months.