 The thought of the Jubilee year 2009
was a hazy and nebulous speck in time in 1984. Looking back now, one feels happy
to have traversed this distance with effortless ease and achieving many milestones
of successes. Now it appears that it was only yesterday that Dr. Ashok Agarwal set
foot in Jaipur to translate the vision of his brothers at TCI to set up an institute
in remembrance of their father the late Shri P.D. Agarwal, the Founder ofTCI. The
wide ranging consultations and Dr Agarwal's own background led to the setting up
IIHMR. The family's Rajasthan connection made Jaipur an obvious the choice for locating
the Institute in the Pink City. After taking initial baby steps, the institution gradually picked up strength, a large and beautiful campus rose near Sanganer Airport,
the faculty grew both in size and quality and so did the work, name and fame of
the institute.
The institute carved a niche for itself and reaped early bird advantage. The setting
up an Institute of Health Management and Research in 1984 was itself a pioneering and out of box effort. The Institute ran MPH programmes in partnership with University
of North Carolina as back as1990, worked with many national and international organizations
in the area of health research, capacity building, policy development and management
education. It started its own flagship PGDHM programme in 1996. It set up its footprint
in Afghanistan in 2004 in collaboration with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
and later on at Sana'a (Yemen) in partnership with Saudi German Hospital Group.
The accolades came thick and fast. WHO made it its collaborating centre in District
Health System based on Primary Healthc;are and the Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare termed it an Institute of Excellence in the Health Sector. Market surveys
rated it as a top ranking business school in the health
sector. The Association
of
Indian Universities (AIU) accorded its PGDHM programme equivalence with Master's
degree programme in Business Administration. The Institute received accreditation
from National Board of Accreditation. We also became a Founding member of WHO's
South East Asian Public Health Institutions Network.
Responding to the emerging needs and capitalizing on the new opportunities in the
health sector, IIHMR set up new campuses both in the South and North. The IIHMR
campus in the south came up at Bangalore in 2004 and Delhi campus, known as International
Institute of Health Management Research, materialized in 2008.
Thus last 25 years saw tremendous growth of the Institute in term of its size, activities
and knowledge creation. Its Alumni spread far and wide, and are earning laurels
and bringing glory to the Institute. The Institute is now poised for taking a leap
forward in the next few years.
As we look back and see with admiration and awe the distance travelled, we fondly
remember all those who made it possible
by their commitment, guidance and dedicated work. Some benefactors like Shri V. P. Agarwal, Dr. Rameshwar Sharma, Dr. Rishikesh
Maru and Dr. Harcharan Singh have left for heavenly abode while many others are
fortunately with us and are helping in the Institute's growth. It is difficult to
put names of all these persons here, but to name a few, Dr. D.A. Henderson, Dr.
N.S. Deodhar, Dr. Ram S Tarneja, Shri. T.N. Chaturvedi, Shri. B.G. Deshmukh, Dr.
Y.K. Alagh, Dr. Giridhar, Shri. S.N. Agarwal and Shri D.P. Agarwal have made valuable
contribution to the growth of the institute. Dr. Ashok Agarwal, the prime mover
of the Institute deserves special mention. He worked tirelessly and meticulously
to build high quality infrastructure and create the spirit of excellence. Dr. SD
Gupta, the Director of the Institute at Jaipur provided high quality of leadership
to the Institute when it needed it most. The faculty, research and support staff
also deserve our appreciation for creating a unique work culture of quality, value
creation, quiet efficiency and sensitivity.
We are developing a new vision and growth plan for the Institute for the future.
I am sure we would realize our new dreams in the coming years with our collective
strength and the noble cause we are working for. We are happy to place the SIR-2009
in the hands of our associates, well wishers and readers. This would give them a
glimpse of the strengths that we have, work thatwe do and the people who guide us
in our endeavours.
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