The year 2002-2003 was a momentous year in the history of the Institute which was inaugurated by Mrs. Rajkumar Amrit Kaur, the then Health Minister, Government of India on 12th January 1953. The Institute organized an International Conference on Chest Disease and Allied Sciences at India Habitat Centre from 12-14 January 2003 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the Inauguration of the Institute. Eminent Scientists from India and abroad participated as faculty and nearly 500 delegates attended the Conference. A symposium was organized on this occasion to honour the former Director of the Institute, Prof. A.S. Paintal who had discovered J receptors from the Institute.

53rd Foundation Day of the Institute was celebrated on 5th and 6th April 2002. A symposium on “Sarcoidosis” was organized on 5th April 2002 and the 4th VPCI Oration was delivered by Dr. S. Padmavati, President, All India Heart Foundation on 6th April 2002. During he Sarcoidosis Symposium, it has been decided to form a society named as “Indian Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Graculomatous Disorders” under the Patronage of Dr. O.P. Sharma, President of the “World Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Disorders”. The second CME Programme in Respiratory Diseases for the General Practitioners of Delhi was conducted by the Institute in the month of April 2002. A public function was organized by the “Tobacco Cessation Clinic” of the Institute in collaboration with the World health Organisation and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India on 30th May 2002 to commemorate the “World No Tobacco Day” and to make the public aware of the harmful effects of smoking. The 2nd National Conference of the Society of Pharmacovigilance (India) was successfully organized on 1-2 March 2003.

During the year 2002-2003, the faculty members had published 59 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and 35 of them were in International journals. As part of the upgradation of the Library to make it a virtual library, a web access to its catalogue was launched using the URL http://opac/index.htm. A Local Area Network (LAN) system was also established in the Institute and all faculty members were provided with computers and Internet facilities. As most of the patients admitted to the hospital wing of the Institute require oxygen therapy, a state-of-the-art “microprocessor based oxygen concentrator” to produce oxygen in the Institute itself was inaugurated on 14th August 2002 by Prof. P.N. Srivastava, Chairman, Governing Body. Action has also been initiated to renovate and establish a state-of-the-art Animal House, to purchase digital radiograph and flow-cytometer and to renovate the Institute Buildings.

The Institute was able to successfully complete all these activities with the generous support provided by the faculty, students and other staff members of the Institute and with the Guidance of Chairman, Governing Body.