Rajkot (Gujarat), Dec 21 (IANS): Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan virtually inaugurated the first academic batch of MBBS students at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Guajarat's Rajkot city on Monday for the 2020-21 batch.

The Deputy Director informed that the institute's first academic session will be for 50 students.

Apart from Harsh Vardhan, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was also present at the ceremony held at Pramukhswami auditorium on the Raiya Road. Minister of State (MoS) for Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, and state Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel also attended the ceremony.

Shramdeep Sinha, the Deputy Director (administration) of AIIMS, Rajkot, said the academic functioning of the college would be carried out temporarily at a small section of a building inside the campus in Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay (PDU) Medical College, Civil hospital.

The first academic batch of students have been selected through merit in the All-India combined NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test) exams. The students arrived at the Pramukhswami auditorium on Monday to participate in the inauguration and begin their academic session.

Some 17 faculty members have been appointed for the college.

The Gujarat government has allotted 200-acre land for the AIIMS campus at Para Pipaliya village along the Jamnagar highway at the northern outskirts of Rajkot city. The institute would be set up by the Central government for nearly Rs 1,200 crore and is expected to be ready by 2022.