Poll: India's best medical colleges

The results of the 14th India Today annual survey of the top colleges in India were declared last month. The poll ranked 1,500 colleges in the streams of science, arts, commerce, medicine, engineering and law.

Last week we featured the country's top science, commerce and arts colleges asked you to vote for your top pick.

Today we take a look at the top 10 medical colleges in the country and what sets them apart from the rest.

Move on to the next slide and register your votes on the last page of the slideshow...

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences holds on to the top spot this year.

What differentitates the college from the rest, apart from its superlative facilities and training, is its emphasis on research.

Established in 1956 as an autonomous institution, AIIMS has comprehensive facilities for its teaching courses. The college offers both undergraduate and postgraduate courses which include MBBS, BSc in nursing, human biology, audiometry and MD, MS and MDS in 55 specialities, and PhD courses as well. 

The institute also offers courses and research in 42 disciplines as part of its medical and para-medical courses.

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Christian Medical College, Vellore also stays put at last year's ranking.

Starting out as a single-bed dispensary back in 1900, the college today has over 7,000 staff, over 2,500 beds and offers well-recognised undergrad and postgrad courses. The college offers degree courses in medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and medical lab technology. It also offers PhD courses apart from diploma, MD and MS courses in a variety of specialities.

The college also undertakes research in a number of areas, some of which include nutritional supplementation in TB, adult immunisation and community acquired pneumonia among others.

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Established in 1948, AFMC began as a postgraduate training and research centre. It has over the decades grown its scope to include dental surgery, undergraduate courses and nursing.

Housed on its 160-acre campus are more its departments that include forensic medicine, microbiology, obstetrics, psychiatry and internal medicine. More than 1,500 students are enrolled in the college's MBBS (130 seats), BSc and postgrad (MD, MS, MCh and PhD) programmes.

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The Jawaharlal Institute of Post-graduate Medical Education and Research, an autonomous body under the Indian government's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, dates its origins back to 1823. Today the college has 300 teachers and 565 resident doctors providing training to over 800 students enrolled in its undergrad and postgrad courses.

Its 29 departments support its pre and para clinical, surgical and medical programmes some of which include pharmacology, opthamology, plastic surgery, cardiology, paediatrics and emergency medical services.

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Established in 1959, MAMC offers undergraduate, postgarduate and post-doctoral programmes supported by 23 departments that include paediatric surgery, dermatology and radio-diagnosis.

The college admits 180 students to its MBBS course every year and 40 to its BDS course, 117 seats for its PG courses and  24 students to its postdoctoral courses (offering 7 super-specialities). The college also lays great emphasis on research with many of its staff and students actively involved in research projects.

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Set up in 1953 as the country's first medical college in the private sector, KMC moves up 3 notches to number 6.
Spread over a 200-acre campus, the college offers 34 courses at the undergrad, postgrad, super-speciality level and also offers certificate courses. Some of its departments include yoga, ayurveda and nuclear medicine.

Another integral part of the KMC culture is its continued and unstinting support to research projects undertaken by its staff and students both within India and internationally.

Students from 44 countries have studied here another reason to support the college's well-recognised teaching expertise.

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Lady Hardinge Medical College moves up 3 spots from last year to number 7.

Established in 1916, LHMC is today one of Delhi University's most prestigious colleges. Apart from the 130 MBBS seats it offers, it also runs postgraduate courses (MD and MS) and diploma courses.

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The only new entrant into the top 10 this year is St John's Medical College, moving up from number 12.

Estabished in 1963, St John's offers graduate, postgraduate, diploma and super specialty degrees recognised by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences. The college has over 700 students currently enrolled, ably supported by 608 staff.

Some of the courses on offer include anatomy, microbiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurosurgery, among 35 well-established departments.

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Sliding two spots to land at number 7 is Mumbai's Grant Medical College.

Set up in 1845, the college started with 9 students and has today over 1,000 on its rolls. It offers over 30 specialties under its pre clinical, para clinical, clinical and surgical departments which offer MBBS, MD, DM, nursing and DMLT courses.

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Closing out the list is another Mumbai college -- Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College -- moving down 2 spots to land at number 10.

Established in 1845, today the college has over 40 departments of study, 180 seats for its MBBS course and a number of postgrad diploma, degree and superspecialty courses that include subjects like biochemistry, endocrinology, hematology, neonatology and transfusion medicine among many others.

Move on to the next slide and register your votes on the last page of the slideshow...