Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences - History

History

Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli, (KIMS, Hubli) formerly known as Karnataka Medical College, Hubli was established in August 1957. For the first few years, the college was functioning from a building which is now known as J.G. Commerce College. Later, the campus was shifted to the present location comprising 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land, on Pune – Bangalore National Highway near Vidyanagar, Hubli.

Since its inception, the institution has a history of having a eminent teachers as its faculty, numerous alumni have glorified the name of the institute in the country and across the globe. It plays a major role in serving the society at large, in terms of providing tertiary health care services to the needy and by developing resources of health care providers and researchers.

The decade 1980-1990 changed its face of being a nondescript hospital in treating cancer patients to a well-known major and a model comprehensive regional center for cancer treatment and research. It was therefore capable of offering contemporary sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic services to ever increasing numbers of cancer patients, from Karnataka and neighboring states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. It had the unique distinction of being the first medical college in India to start a full-fledged post-graduate course in paediatrics.

For a brief period, due to lack of political will and poor funding, there was a progressive decline in staff strength, facilities, and the services offered. The government of Karnataka immediately constituted a Governing Council and in June 1997, the then Karnataka Medical College was accorded autonomous status, and so was born the present Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli. This was done to achieve the objectives of providing comprehensive undergraduate and postgraduate, medical and paramedical education and developing the facilities for research, training, screening, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, palliative and preventive care for the society at large. Since then the institute has shown tremendous progress towards achieving this goal. It has now got a sufficient well trained staff strength.

There has been steady progress in the facilities and the health care services that are at the institute. The institution is equipped to provide some of the major super speciality services like Cardiology, Nephrology, Endocrinology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Urology, Plastic surgery, Paediatric surgery. The ART Center at KIMS Hubli has been recognized and is being developed as the nodal center for North Karnataka as well as surrounding region. The Government of Karnataka has provided Cardiac Catheterization Lab to the Institute and has pledged to renew it as the Regional Cardiology Center. The institute has also been accorded the status of Institute of Excellence and recognized as a Training Center for WHO Fellowship. The addition of new blocks, Trauma Care Center and Maternal & Child Health Center, is expected to increase the popularity of the hospital in the region.

Phototherapy, dermabrasion and radiofrequency has been newly added to the Department of Dermatology.