Abstract

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences was the brainchild of Rajk:umari Amrit Kaur, the first Union Minister for Health in the Nehru cabinet of 1947, and only woman member thereof. She was the daughter of Raja Harnam Singh of Kapurthala. Educated at Oxford University, she met Gandhiji in 1919 and was his personal secretary for 16 years until his death. She was imprisoned by the British twice: for participating in the Dandi March of 1930 and the Quit India movement in 1942.