Looking Back - Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences

Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS) was started as Gandhi Centenary Project in the year 1969. In mid sixties it was realised that 80% of rural India was bereft of health care despite increase in number of medical colleges and Primary Health Centres and Sub-centres. Most of the medical graduates remained in urban area or went apoad for seeking greener pastures. "Why not to have a medical college in rural area? This will enable the medical students to understand the problems of rural people in a better way and some of them will definitely get motivated to work in the villages". This noble ideal was conceived by the then Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, who put this idea to Dr. Sushila Nayar, Union Health Minister. She selected Sevagram for such an experiment.