Christian Medical College and Hospital

Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, known simply as "CMC Vellore", was founded by Ida S. Scudder, and located in the city of Vellore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, South India.

The idea of starting a hospital occurred to Ida Sophia Scudder in the late 1800s, when Ida visited her medical missionary father, John Scudder, at his post in Tamil Nadu. One night, Ida was asked to help three women from different families struggling in difficult childbirth. Custom prevented their husbands from accepting the help of a male doctor and being without training at that time, Ida herself could do nothing. The next morning she was shocked to learn that each of the three women had died. She believed that it was a calling and a challenge set before her by God to begin a ministry dedicated to the health needs of the people of India, particularly women and children. Consequently, Ida went back to America, entered medical training (practically unheard of for women at that time) and, in 1899, was one of the first women graduates of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University;

Shortly thereafter, she returned to India and opened a one-bed clinic in Vellore in 1900. Two years later, in 1902, she built a 40-bed hospital, the forerunner of today's 2234-bed medical center. In 1909, she started the School of Nursing, and in 1918, a medical school for women was opened under the name Missionary Medical School for Women. With the training of these women as doctors and nurses, Indian women would now begin to have access to health care professionals. The medical school was upgraded into a university affiliated medical college granting the degree of M.B.B.S. in 1942, under the name Christian Medical College. Men were admitted to this college in 1947, ten in a class of 35.

In addition to the care of women, Ida Scudder saw the need for bringing health care to the poor, the disabled, and the neglected of India. She traveled regularly to outlying villages, bringing medical care to the doorstep of poor villagers, starting CMC's first "roadside" dispensary in 1916. Over the years, these roadside dispensaries have developed into extensive rural health and development programs that have become internationally acclaimed in the Community health field.

The 100 years since Ida Scudder opened the first small clinic have seen considerable growth. Today, there are 3,000 outpatients per day, 1,000 inpatients, 55 operations, 22 clinics, and over 30 births every day. Ten bible classes are held each day and 380 patients are visited by a chaplain. In addition, there is the work of CHAD, CONCH, and RUHSA, which go out to the villages and rural areas bringing methods of disease prevention, health care and community empowerment to tens of thousands more.

Unlike the case with many other missionary physicians who focused primarily on service, "Aunt Ida" also believed in maintaining a high standard of excellence in academics and research. CMC now employs over 4300 people, and is widely acknowledged to be one of the top Medical schools in India, not only for its achievements in teaching and service, but also in many areas of basic and applied research.

Christian Medical College

The Christian Medical College has come to occupy a prominent place among the medical institutions in India. CMC is unique in being both, a centre attending to the needs of the disadvantaged, and a leading referral tertiary care hospital. CMC fosters wholeness of healing and integrates physical and spiritual care. The combination of technical competence and the urge to be relevant to the needs of people and their environment influence the research and development activities. CMC’s principal achievement is creation of hundreds of health care personnel who, having studied and worked here, have imbibed the spirit of compassionate care and a self-giving culture. CMC's present team of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, engineers, chaplains and others are engaged in making health care relevant to the changing times. Today, CMC’s graduates form a large number of trained health care personnel for the Christian medical network in India. CMC is a healing arm of the church in India.

The College is the parent organisation in the legal and organisational sense. The CMC Hospital and all its related clinical and health care facilities are teaching facilities of the College. The College is owned and administered by the Christian Medical College Vellore Association which is a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act of India. The Association is made up of 54 churches and other Christian organisations engaged in medical/health care activities. The governance is vested in the Christian Medical College Council which is made up of all the members of the Association plus a number of other organisations in India and abroad with similar interests.

In 1918 Dr.Ida Scudder established a Medical School for Women, which was upgraded to a College in 1942 and became coeducational in 1947. Each year 60 students, of which at least 25 are women, are admitted for the undergraduate medical course (M.B.B.S. of The Tamil Nadu Dr.M.G.R.Medical University). The churches and Christian organisations which are members of the Christian Medical College Vellore Association (see above) are entitled to accredit Christians among the applicants as being eligible to the proportion of places (currently 50 out of 60) reserved for the Christian "minority" as provided in the Constitution of India.

The student body is a wholesome mix of various regions, religions and communities of India and other Asian countries. The tution fees in the college are exceptionally low so as to ensure that finances are not a constraint to the coveted education in this institution. In addition, scholarships are available to students who need such assistance. Students and faculty live together like a family in a residential campus. A major emphasis in the curriculum is training in Community Medicine, a part of which includes living in a village for several weeks and participating in activities designed to provide practical knowledge and experience related to the life and health of rural people. Immediately after graduation, all the medical graduates of CMC are required to serve for at least two years in health care facilities accredited by the institution to be meeting social needs. Trainees who join for postgraduate courses are fulltime members of the staff, actively working in the wards and laboratories while learning under the guidance of senior colleagues.

CMC has been given a five star rating by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council[citation needed], an autonomous arm of the University Grants Commission, in recognition of its quality of medical education and health care. CMC has been assigned the H1 grading by the Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA) Ltd[citation needed]. The H1 grading implies that the institution has resources and processes consistent with those required to deliver the highest quality of care. The grading reflects the institution’s broadly adequate infrastructure and equipment, its committed medical and nursing staff, its well-structured governance and management processes and its track record in medical techniques and procedures. The span of ICRA’s health care grading service broadly covers primary, secondary, tertiary healthcare providers and teaching hospitals.

CMC has been consistently ranked among the best medical colleges in India. Independent surveys published in 2006 by both India today-ORG MARG and Outlook-Cfore ranks CMC second in the overall survey of the best medical colleges in India next only to AIIMS Delhi.

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