Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research - History

History

JIPMER originated on 1 January 1823 as "Ecole de Médicine de Pondichéry," a medical school established by the French imperial government in India to train French citizens in Pondicherry. In 1956 the government of India took over administration of Pondicherry from the French and renamed it as "Dhanvantri Medical College." After Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's (who laid the foundation stone after Indian government's takeover of the institution)A death on May 27, 1964, it was again renamed to "Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research" (JIPMER) (on 13 July 1964).

In 1863, a medical college called the Ecole de Médicine de Pondicherry was established by the French government in Pondicherry. It was one of the earliest institutions of tropical medicine and the teaching staff consisted of surgeons and doctors of the French navy and troupes colones. Students who were trained here were granted a diploma called Médicin Locale that allowed them to practice medicine in the colonial territories. With the de jure transfer of Pondicherry to India, the Government of India took over the college and renamed it simply Medical College, Pondicherry. For a short period, it was called the Dhanvantri Medical College and, on July 13, 1964, it was rechristened as the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research. Today, the institution is universally known by the acronym JIPMER.

Under the French, the college was located in the heart of the town of Pondicherry in the modified buildings of the high court, opposite Le place de Gaulle, which is now the Legislative Assembly Hall. In 1959, SE Le Comte Stanislas Ostrorog, Ambassadeur de France aux Indes, laid the foundation stone of the new medical college building that was located on the outskirts of the town and, in 1964, the college moved to its new campus at Gorimedu.