Armed Forces Medical College

The Department commenced its postgraduate program in February 1960. The first postgraduate instructor assigned to the department was Major S. Thirumalai, who later served as Head of the Department from March 1961 to May 1966 and subsequently became the Dean of the college. Initially recognized for conducting Diploma courses in Anaesthesiology, the department received recognition for the MD degree program in 1968. The department relocated from the old barracks to the Golden Jubilee Block in 1998, and later to its present location in the Main Block in 2013.

The department conducts several life-saving courses, including BLS, ACLS, and ATLS, training approximately 700 individuals annually, of whom about 100 are non-medical personnel. These courses are also offered to undergraduate students as electives and are included in the Military Medicine module prior to commissioning.

Currently, the department is accredited to train fifteen postgraduate residents each year. Postgraduate trainees are drawn from India as well as Nepal, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. Training is conducted in the Operation Theatres and Intensive Care Units of Command Hospital (Southern Command), Army Institute of Cardiothoracic Sciences (AICTS), Artificial Limb Centre, and Military Hospital Kirkee. Residents receive rigorous and comprehensive exposure to all branches of anaesthetic practice during their three-year training program. Collectively, these centres perform approximately 20,000 surgeries and procedures requiring anaesthetic services annually, of which around 1,000 are conducted outside the operating theatre (NORA).

The department maintains a strong academic program with regular journal clubs, case presentations, symposia, and faculty lectures. Undergraduate teaching emphasizes practical skill acquisition in a well-equipped clinical skills lab. The department also supervises the training of paramedical personnel enrolled in the BSc (Operating Room Technician) program.

The department houses an Anaesthesia Museum that showcases the evolution of the specialty, including a collection of rare historical equipment. It has the distinction of being the first medical college in the country to acquire and provide training on a state-of-the-art Human Patient Simulator.

An accredited ACLS program is conducted in collaboration with Symbiosis Institute of Health Skills and Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed University). The department has recently been approved as an international training centre for AHA-certified courses, enabling it to conduct these programs independently. AFMC also serves as a centre for the Cadaveric Research Academic Board under AORA’s initiative to promote impactful research in cadaveric regional anaesthesia. The department organizes RECAP, the annual anaesthesia refresher course for postgraduates, on behalf of the Society of Anaesthesiologists Pune.

The faculty includes experienced Anaesthesiologists with subspecialty expertise in Neuroanaesthesia, Intensive Care, Paediatric Anaesthesia, and Regional Anaesthesia. The department has an active research program and takes pride in its legacy of training Anaesthesiologists who have served the nation in the Armed Forces and have achieved academic and administrative distinction in institutions across the country.