All India Institute Of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS) Raipur functioned at 88 per cent Bed Occupancy Rate (BOR) in 2025-26 while handling more than 10.25 lakh OPD patients, over 58,000 emergency-trauma cases and a sharply rising surgical load with only one MRI machine whose waiting period extends up to four months, according to official RTI disclosures that point towards mounting operational pressure on the premier government healthcare institution. The occupancy figure disclosed by AIIMS Raipur exceeds both the approximately 80 per cent utilisation benchmark generally associated with Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) and National Medical Commission-linked institutional norms for major hospitals and teaching institutions, with the NMC’s own 2020 regulatory amendments prescribing a minimum 75 per cent indoor bed occupancy at the stage of third renewal and recognition for teaching hospitals, as well as the internationally recognised efficiency ceiling beyond which hospitals lose their residual surge-absorption capacity, face corridor overcrowding and ambulance diversion pressures, and become critically vulnerable to gridlock in emergency wards during sudden escalations in patient volume. A March 2026 review article published in the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health corroborates this, observing that hospitals functioning beyond the 80 per cent occupancy ceiling effectively eliminate the operational buffer required to manage surges without compromising patient safety, and that overcrowding at high-occupancy institutions directly translates into patients waiting in corridors, restricted emergency access and compromised care delivery.

 

The disclosures emerge from RTI Application No. AMSRP/R/E/26/00082 filed by Nagpur-based RTI activist Sanjay Thul, with replies issued by AIIMS Raipur through CPIO Shivendra Singh and internal medical records communication dated May 12, 2026. The RTI documents indicate that OPD attendance at AIIMS Raipur rose from 8,38,873 in 2023-24 to 10,25,823 in 2025-26. Emergency and trauma cases climbed from 39,260 to 58,370 during the same period, marking an increase of nearly 49 per cent within two years. Inpatient admissions similarly rose from 45,547 to 57,167, while Bed Occupancy Rate increased from 78 per cent in 2023-24 to 80 per cent in 2024-25 before touching 88 per cent in 2025-26 . The RTI records further reveal sustained escalation in surgical burden. Major surgeries increased from 11,086 in 2023-24 to 14,718 in 2025-26, while minor surgeries rose from 6,949 to 10,498. Among the most significant disclosures in the RTI response is that AIIMS Raipur is presently operating with only one MRI machine. The institute’s own response states that MRI waiting periods range from immediate access in emergency cases to as long as four months for regular patients. The diagnostic workload meanwhile has continued to expand sharply. CT scans nearly doubled from 17,628 in 2023-24 to 33,637 in 2025-26, while MRI scans increased from 3,183 to 3,757 during the same period. The RTI reply does not disclose whether any additional MRI infrastructure expansion has been sanctioned, proposed or is presently under execution despite the rising diagnostic burden reflected in the institute’s own records.