Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) marked its 51st convocation on Monday, with a message that blended scale, science and service, as 523 graduates stepped out of one of India’s most sought-after medical institutions amid repeated reminders that healthcare, despite rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), still rests on empathy at the patient’s bedside.Held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, the convocation brought together the Vice President of India CP Radhakrishnan, Union Health Minister JP Nadda (who is also AIIMS Delhi’s President), faculty, students and families, many of whom watched years of demanding training culminate in the ceremonial conferring of degrees.What emerged through the ceremony was not merely a formal graduation event, but the portrait of an institution trying to balance crushing patient load, global ambition and a rapidly changing medical landscape.The institute’s director Nikhil Tandon described the daily pressure under which the institute functions, saying AIIMS handles nearly 14,000 outpatients every day, alongside around 800 emergency visits, 1,000 admissions, 1,000 surgeries, 3,000 radiology procedures and more than two lakh laboratory tests daily. He said the institution had continued to climb international rankings while expanding research and technology driven healthcare initiatives.The graduating class received degrees across undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral, super-speciality, nursing and allied health sciences programmes. The qualifications included MBBS, MD, MS, DM, MCh, fellowships and allied health courses, ranging from optometry to operation theatre technology.In his address, the Vice President called AIIMS “the nation’s primary engine of medical innovation” and said the institution had managed to maintain affordability while setting high standards in patient care. Referring to the annual patient footfall, he noted that AIIMS handles nearly 50 lakh outpatients every year, a figure he said exceeded the population of several countries.He also struck a cautionary note on the growing dependence on technology in healthcare.“While AI-driven technologies are transforming every sector, including healthcare, no technology can ever replace the moral weight of a doctor’s presence at the patient’s bedside,” he said.The ceremony repeatedly returned to the role of AI in medicine, reflecting how deeply the subject has entered India’s premier medical institutions. Tandon said AIIMS had already begun deploying AI-based screening for diabetic retinopathy and oral cancer, while AI-supported radiology tools were being developed to reduce workload in diagnosis.The institution is also part of an Indo-French collaboration on the AI in healthcare and has been designated a key medical institution for the AI healthcare centres of excellence, according to remarks made during the event.At another point, the convocation turned into a wider reflection on India’s expanding medical education network. Nadda said India had only one AIIMS for decades after 1956, but now has 23 such institutions, with 16 added in recent years. He said the number of medical colleges in the country had risen from around 390 a decade ago to 825, while medical seats had increased to 1.25 lakh.He added that the government planned to add another 75,000 undergraduate and postgraduate seats in the next two to three years and said AIIMS New Delhi would play a mentoring role for newer institutions across the country.The convocation also carried reminders of AIIMS’ attempt to establish itself as a research driven global institution. Tandon said the institute had secured nearly 950 extramural research grants worth close to Rs 300 crore and that 57 faculty members featured in Stanford University’s list of the world’s top 2per cent scientists.The institute used the occasion to underline its international standing. According to AIIMS, it is ranked sixth in the Brand Finance Global Top 250 Hospitals 2026 report, remains India’s top ranked medical college in the NIRF rankings and has climbed to 105 in the QS World University Rankings.Beyond rankings and statistics, the emotional centre of the ceremony lay with the graduating students and their families, many of whom had travelled from across the country to witness the moment. Speakers repeatedly framed medical education not simply as professional achievement, but public responsibility.Nadda told students that professional education was “a privilege that you are getting from society” and urged graduates to “pay back to society with the same zeal, with the same commitment”.The ceremony began with the recital of the Charak Oath, reaffirming ethical medical practice and selfless service, before degrees and medals were conferred.Five former faculty members were also honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards for contributions to medical science, surgery, nephrology, neurobiology and drug discovery.As AIIMS approaches its 70th year, the institution projected itself during the convocation not only as a hospital or medical college, but as a national healthcare network whose graduates now work across every state and Union Territory. For many in the audience, however, the defining image of the afternoon remained simpler: young doctors in ceremonial robes taking an oath to heal in a country where the demand for care continues to outpace the system that trains them.

Original source: in