The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh started in 1962, and its hospital, now named Nehru Hospital, was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru on 7 July 1963. The institute was first run by the government of undivided Punjab; administrative control passed to the Union Territory of Chandigarh in November 1966. It became an autonomous body under an Act of Parliament in 1967 and functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Its mandate, as set out on its history page, covers patient care, self-sufficiency in postgraduate medical education, the training of personnel in branches of health activity and community based research. The history page names its founders as Prof. Tulsi Das, Prof. Santokh Singh Anand, Prof. PN Chuttani, Prof. BN Aikat, Prof. Sant Ram Dhall and Prof. Bala Krishna. Prof. Vivek Lal has been Director since 6 May 2022.