The institute began construction in 1952 with a grant from the New Zealand government. Construction was completed in 1956.

The institute is an independent center that contains different specialty centers addressing different aspects of health care. These centers include Anesthesiology; Anatomy; Biochemistry; Biomedical Engineering; Biophysics; Biostatistics; Biotechnology; Dental Surgery; Dermatology and Venereology; Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes; Forensic Medicine; Gastroenterology and Human Nutrition; Gastrointestinal Surgery; Hematology; Histocompatability and Immunogenetics; Hospital Administration; Laboratory Medicine; Medicine; Microbiology; Nephrology; Nuclear Medicine; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Obstetrics and Gynecology; Orthopedics; Otorhinolaryngology; Pediatrics; Pediatric Surgery; Pathology; Pharmacology; Physiology; Radio Diagnosis; Reproductive Biology; Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Surgical Disciplines; and Urology. It also houses the Center of Community Medicine, the College of Nursing, a primate research facility, and the Psychiatry and Deaddiction Center.

The institute conducts teaching programs in medical and paramedical courses both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and awards its own degrees in these subjects. It also contains a fully operational hospital unit that caters to the New Delhi area.

The institute has also developed a typhoid fever detection kit later purchased by Ranbaxy Laboratories in New Delhi. In May 2002, the institute, in collaboration with the Indian Council for Medical Research and the Indian Institute of Technology, announced that it had developed a new injectable male contraceptive.

Sources:
Primate Research Facility, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, www.primate.wisc.edu;
India Institute of Medical Sciences, www.aiims.edu;
"Technologies Developed by Indian Research Institutes & Transferred to the Industry," www.punjabilok.com;
"India Launches New Injectable Male Contraceptive," www.symonds.net.