Now students will not have to go through an interview to do PhD from AIIMS or get Award of Institute Fellowship. AIIMS has done away with the interview to improve the selection process. Now students have to get merit in the exam. Only merit students will be able to get this facility.

AIIMS Director Dr M Srinivas, in his order, has stated that it was learned from the faculty, among others, that there is an urgent need to reform the selection process for PhD and award of institute fellowships. Also, it is the need of the hour to promote high quality research in AIIMS. Also, it came to the fore that an in-house funding mechanism should be developed to increase the number of meritorious PhD students in AIIMS.

There is a need to increase the number of students and award institute fellowships to enable high impact research at AIIMS. For this, it has been proposed to start 40-50 Ph.D. To promote the institute fellowship, a provision of Rs 200 crore will be made under the Prime Minister's Research Fellow (PMRF) scheme. 

A draft of the proposed amendments to the selection process for Ph.D. The Academic Section has been asked to look into it immediately. Staff Council, Academic Committee, Standing Finance Committee and others have been asked to hold further consultations to ensure speedy implementation of these proposed reforms.

The entrance test for Ph.D with DM/MCh will be conducted twice a year at various centers in the country. The selection process should be completely objective, transparent and will be based on written test. There will be no interview for this at any stage.