The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhopal is going to conduct a post-graduate course in `Medical Management of Chemical-Biological- Radiological-Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) Disaster' from July, it said on June 4.

The course was being offered "at the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi", AIIMS Bhopal director Sarman Singh told reporters. It will be a six-month course in "medical management in the event of cross-border CBRNE attacks or similar situation caused by some accidents", he said. "AIIMS, Bhopal will be the first centre which is launching this certificate course. Later, AIIMS centers of Delhi and Jodhpur will also launch this course," Singh said.

The doctors working for organizations or in areas considered vulnerable to CBRNE attacks or accidents, such as industrial complexes, shrines, areas prone to terror attacks and border towns would find the course beneficial, he said. The course would be conducted through "open and distant learning" mode, in collaboration with the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Singh said.

"Twelve doctors will be selected for this six-month course," he added. AIIMS Bhopal now also has a regional virology laboratory which can conduct tests for high-risk viruses like zica and swine flu, he said. In 2018-19, the institute published 174 research papers, Singh informed.