In the historic city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, on 14 September 1956, a boy named Ravi Kant was born with a keen mind and steady hands that would one day shape the future of surgical education in India. He studied at King George’s Medical University in Lucknow, earning his MBBS and MS in General Surgery. Determined to master his craft, he went on to secure Fellowships of the Royal College of Surgeons from England, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ireland—a rare distinction held by very few Indian surgeons.

He began his teaching career at Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi and later became Professor and Head of the Department of Surgery at AIIMS Bhopal. His special interest lay in surgical oncology and trauma care. He trained generations of young surgeons, published extensively, and served as President of the Indian Association of Surgical Oncology. In 2014 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, where he strengthened organ donation programmes and academic standards. From 2017 to 2021 he served as Director of AIIMS Rishikesh, guiding the young institute through critical years of growth.

Throughout his career he remained a visiting surgeon at leading centres around the world—Mayo Clinic in the USA, National Cancer Institute in Tokyo and Milan, and universities in London, Chicago and Sydney—always returning home to share new knowledge with Indian students and patients.

One afternoon, after a complex cancer operation, a young resident asked him, “Sir, how do you stay calm when the stakes are so high?”

Ravi Kant replied quietly, “Because every patient who trusts us has already shown courage. Our duty is to match that courage with skill and never stop learning.”

In 2014 he received the Dr. B.C. Roy National Award as an eminent medical teacher. In 2016 the President of India conferred upon him the Padma Shri, and the Government of Uttar Pradesh honoured him with the Yash Bharti Award.

Today, as Professor of Surgery at Sharda University, Dr. Ravi Kant continues to teach, operate and inspire. From a determined student in Ayodhya to the Padma Shri awardee who led major medical institutions and carried Indian surgical excellence across the world, his journey remains a powerful reminder that the finest surgeons heal not only with their hands, but with lifelong dedication to knowledge and service.

AIIMS Rishikesh, established in 2012 under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), has grown from a nascent institution into a major tertiary care and teaching centre serving Uttarakhand and neighbouring regions.

Early Years (2012–2017)

• Academic sessions began in August 2012 with the first batch of 50 MBBS students.
• Outpatient (OPD) services started in mid-2013; a 200-bed hospital was inaugurated in February 2014.
• Initial challenges included slow construction, frequent changes in leadership, and limited infrastructure.

Growth Under Dr. Ravi Kant (Director, April 2017 – 2021)

Padma Shri awardee Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Kant took charge when the institute still faced significant gaps. Under his leadership, key expansions occurred:

• Bed capacity: Expanded from around 300 beds to 960 beds.
• Operation theatres: Increased from just 3 to 54 (including modular OTs).
• Patient load: IPD patients rose dramatically—from about 5,700 in 2016–17 to over 1.49 lakh by the end of 2020 (roughly a 30-fold increase). Thousands more were treated under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
• Specialised clinics: More than 100 super-specialty and afternoon clinics were started.
• Digital & operational upgrades: Campus became fully cashless in 2017; e-Hospital system (NIC) was adopted the same year for seamless management; e-office was introduced later for paperless administration.
• Emergency & outreach: Trauma and Emergency services were strengthened and bifurcated; heli-ambulance services (India’s first government heli-ambulance) were pioneered to serve remote hilly areas; efforts began toward drone-based medical supply.
• Academic expansion: MBBS intake grew toward the current 125 seats; postgraduate and super-specialty programmes expanded significantly.

These changes transformed AIIMS Rishikesh into a preferred destination for advanced care in the Himalayan region, with rising footfall in both routine and specialised services.

Continued Expansion (Post-2021)

• Current capacity stands at approximately 960–1,200+ beds (with further growth reported), 25+ modular OTs, and extensive ICUs.
• Student strength has grown substantially: 125 MBBS, 100 B.Sc. Nursing, hundreds of MD/MS/DM/MCh seats, plus PhD and allied courses, supported by over 200 faculty members.
• Advanced facilities include robotic surgery, nuclear medicine (PET-CT), telemedicine networks, and an integrated AYUSH department.
• The institute ranks among the top medical colleges in India (NIRF medical ranking around 13–14 in recent years).
• Cumulative surgeries exceeded 1.5 lakh by 2025–26.

Note on challenges: While infrastructure and clinical volumes expanded rapidly under Dr. Ravi Kant, later investigations (including CBI probes) examined certain procurement irregularities from that period. Overall institutional growth, however, continued under subsequent directors, including the current Executive Director Prof. Meenu Singh.

In summary, AIIMS Rishikesh’s transformation—from a 200-bed facility with limited services into a 960+ bed super-specialty institute with advanced emergency, digital, and outreach capabilities—owes much to the focused leadership period of 2017–2021, which laid the foundation for its present status as a key healthcare and medical education hub in northern India.