New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS): Expressing concern over a discussion on changing the name of AIIMS, the Faculty Association of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (FAIMS) said that any such move will lead to impending loss of identity of AIIMS.

In a letter to its members seeking opinion over the speculation, FAIMS said, "You must have seen/heard news about changing name of AIIMS with that of some famous personality/leader/freedom fighter or place. FAIMS believes that this will lead to impending loss of identity of AIIMS."

"Identity is linked with the name. If identity is lost, institutional recognition will be lost, both within the country and outside. That is why famous and established institutes have with the same name for centuries -be it Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard. In India, IITs have a name which gives the institution an identity, and there is no proposal to change them. The same is true for AIIMS," the letter read.

Also, the sense of identity is so strong that Calcutta, Bombay and Madras Universities continue with the same name even though the cities they are located in have changed names to Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, the letter added.