The objectives of the IAMI are to sensitize the Indian medical community to the benefits of Information Technology, bring about awareness and ensure greater utilization of IT in healthcare facilities across the length and breadth of India. The IAMI also aims to provide necessary assistance and guidance to other organizations to implement and reap the benefits of IT for health care. It supports introduction of computer literacy along with medical education, development of computerized as well as medical digital libraries, access to information and creation of databases. IAMI emphasizes research and development of medical informatics as an independent discipline. It provides various communication and interaction channels among its members by means of e-groups and through publication of a scholarly journal.
IAMI was registered in September 1993 with its Registered Office being the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, in Hyderabad, India. It has been organising a conference every two years on roles and applications of informatics in medicine, health and allied fields in various states of India. The first biennial conference was held in 1995 at Hyderabad. The second conference was held in 1997 at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The third conference in 1999 in Hyderabad was postponed due to natural calamities. A workshop was also held at NIMS in lieu later. The third conference was held in 2001 in New Delhi. The fourth conference was held in 2003 at PGIMER, Chandigarh. A mid-conference was held in 2004 at the South-Eastern Railways Hospital, Kolkata. The fifth conference was held in 2005 at Sri Guru Ram DasInstitute of Medical Sciences in Amritsar. IAMI has conducted many beginners' courses for doctors, nurses, paramedical personnel and computerprofessional class. This enabled the association in enrolling many hospitals, institutes and organizations as Institutional Life Members. It is aiming at making Medical Informatics as one of the elective subjects in the UG curriculum for all medical colleges in India and to get academic credits from the Medical Council of India and other autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India for all the delegates participating in the conferences, seminars and workshops organized by the association. In 2001, it started a discussion group for medical informatics. Which has now grown into the de facto information source for medical informatics-related activities in India for its members as well as non-members. Its active members include almost everyone in the medical informatics scene of India. IAMI got its own website in 2002. Its Indian Journal of Medical Informatics was started in May 2004.
Membership
IAMI membership consists of Personal, Institutional and Honorary Members. Many of its key office bearers are part of several Government of India initiatives in the areas of telemedicine, especially in the area of development of standards and guidelines for the practice of telemedicine, online medical education and electronic medical records or electronic health records.
Journal
It produces the scientific journal called Indian Journal of Medical Informatics.
Discussion group
Members of the association have an active discussion group where healthcare IT enthusiasts discuss topics of their interest. Several discussion threads run in parallel. There is also a "topic of the month" which is the main focus of the discussion.
