20 MBBS seat hike to AFMC, to raise the present number to 150

Pune: The Armed Forces Medical College has been granted a medical seat hike of 30 MBBS seats by the Central Government increasing its student intake capacity from the present 130 to 150.

Speaking about compliance for the new increase Director-General of Armed Forces Medical Services (DG-AFMS) Lt Gen Bipin Puri told TOI, "The required clearances from regulatory bodies for the enhanced intake will soon be in place. The infrastructure and allied support like faculty and human resource (HR) would also be in place soon."

Puri revealed the above facts at a press interaction on the second day of the 66th annual Armed Forces Medical Conference at the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC).

He also spoke of the Parliamentary Committee on health recommending an autonomous status for the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune under the Ministry of Defence(MoD), during a visit to it last year.

"A proposal in this regard has been forwarded to the MoD. We are yet to hear from them," he added.

Speaking on the DNA profiling of Army officers and personnel Puri said, "Almost 7,000 such profiles of armed forces men posted in the high-risk services like para-commandos, submariners and fighter pilots have been generated so far. We are collecting the samples in a phase-wise manner and will continue to do the same till we cover all the three forces,"

According to the Armed Forces, Medical College source the DNA profiling lab was expecting to get 24,000 blood samples for DNA profiling in the next few months.

The DG-AFMS said, "Our top priority is to provide medical assistance to combat troops and prevent deaths. As far as high altitude regions are concerned, our endeavour is to reduce cold injury cases like frostbite and thrombosis."

Defining Robotic surgeries on the battlefield as an unfeasible prospect, Puri told the TOI, “Prompt medical service is an important aspect of the battlefield and robotic surgeries can be a time-consuming affair. The Army Hospital Research and Referral (RR), New Delhi, is using robots for conducting surgeries, while other centres like Pune, Bengaluru and Mumbai will get robots in coming years."