The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) (originally known as Institut Jawaharlal de formation et de recherche médicales postdoctorales) is a medical school located at Pondicherry, the capital of the Union Territory of Puducherry, in India. JIPMER is an Institute of National Importance (INI) and a tertiary care referral hospital. It is under the direct administrative control of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Indian Government, with autonomy to run its internal administration. JIPMER is an Institute of National Importance and a tertiary care referral hospital. JIPMER currently has over 300 faculty members, over 700 resident physicians and over 800 nursing, administrative and support staff. It admits 249 undergraduate students and 200 postgraduate students annually. History 1823: The erstwhile French India established the L'Ecole de Médecine de Pondichéry to train French citizens in Pondichéry. It was one of the earliest institutions of tropical medicine and the teaching staff consisted of surgeons and doctors of the French navy and troupes coloniales. Students who were trained here were granted a diploma called Médicin Locale that allowed them to practice medicine in the colonial territories. The college then was located in the heart of the Pondicherry, opposite Le place de Gaulle, which is now the Legislative Assembly Hall. 1956: Following the de jure transfer of Puducherry to India in 1956, the Government of India took over the college and renamed it as Medical College, Pondicherry. For a short period, this was also called the Dhanvantri Medical College. 1959: The foundation stone for a new medical college building was laid at Gorimedu, on the outskirts of the town by SE Le Comte Stanislas Ostrorog, Ambassadeur de France aux Indes, 1964: Dhanvantari Medical College moved to Gorimedu, to a new campus called Dhanvantari Nagar. 1964: The institution was given its current name in honour of India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, as "Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research" (JIPMER), on 13 July 1964, by Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the then President of India. 1966: The main hospital block was inaugurated and the blood bank was commissioned, signalling the shift of all clinical services to the new campus. 1973: The Central Library was inaugurated 1975: The National Teacher Training Centre was established at JIPMER marking the beginning of JIPMERs involvement in training generations of medical teachers across the country. 1995: The Department of Cardiology started a Cardiac Catheterization Lab