CMC Vellore
The Christian Medical College Vellore, located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, is an unaided minority educational institution established in the year 1900.
Started as a single-bedded clinic, under the leadership of Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder, the only daughter of second-generation American missionaries, it grew into a full-fledged medical college imparting education in medical, nursing and allied health sciences. Today, it is one of the top-ranked educational, healthcare and research institutes in the country.
In 2019 we celebrated the centenary of medical education, which began in 1918 with a Licentiate Medical Practitioner course to impart medical training to women. In 1942, the MBBS degree course was started and in 1947, the medical college became co-educational.
CMC’s network of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary care teaching hospitals is spread across six campuses in and around Vellore, and is, together, a 3000-bedded multi-speciality medical institution of international fame.
In the delivery of health care, CMC provides a culture of caring while pursuing its commitment to professional excellence. For decades synonymous with excellence, CMC has maintained a fine balance between providing state-of-the-art treatment while being inclusive and minimising the financial burden on patients, thus playing, over the years, a pivotal role in improving healthcare in the country.
In the area of research, CMC strives to understand God’s purposes and designs, fostering a spirit of enquiry, commitment to truth and high ethical standards. CMC’s research activities have contributed to major health policies such as the national poliomyelitis immunisation policy and policies regarding the treatment and rehabilitation of patients with leprosy.
To effectively practise our calling to be a faith-based establishment ministering to people of all faiths and from all walks of life, CMC has also instituted a missions outreach programme that seeks to broaden the network of organisations involved in the healing ministry, and is committed to reviving mission fields in the rural pockets across the country that lack access to quality medical services.
As a strictly not-for-profit society, all available funds are used to subsidise student education; to provide free or subsidised treatment for deserving patients; to fund charitable outreach activities; or are invested in infrastructure and projects necessary to sustain and develop our capacity to pursue our mission and objectives. We seek to be accountable for the resources and trust placed in us, and to be socially and environmentally responsible in all our activities.
The journey highlights
1900 – 1910
1900 Ida Scudder begins work with a single-bed dispensary in her parents’ bungalow
1902 40-bedded Mary Taber Schell Memorial Hospital opens with the first Dept. of Surgery in India
1903 First training course for female compounders starts
1906 First “roadside clinics” deployed: primary care brought to villages using bullock carts
1909 First Nursing education program opens offering Diploma course
1910 – 1920
1918 India’s first Medical School for women opens with a Licentiate of Medical Practitioner Course
1940 – 1950
1924 CMC Hospital opens on its present site in Vellore
1942 Medical College opens with full MBBS course
1945 Lab Technician training course
1946 India’s first College of Nursing opens offering degree course
1947 Male medical students admitted for MBBS course
1948 First reconstructive surgery on leprosy patients in the world carried out by Dr. Paul Brand
1949 First Neurological Sciences department in South Asia set up by Dr. Jacob Chandy Rural Health Centre at Kavanur
1950 MD and MS courses
1950 – 1960
1954 Radiographer training course
1956 Mental Health Centre
1957 Rural Health Centre at Bagayam Pharmacy diploma course
1960 – 1970
1961 Successful open heart surgery (India’s first) Middle ear microsurgery (India’s first)
1962 Medical Records and Physiotherapy courses
1965 Fleming Memorial Research Laboratory in Virology
1966 Rehabilitation Institute (India’s first)
1968 Occupational Therapy and Hospital Administration courses
1969 College of Nursing Post-graduate degree courses
1970 Department of Nephrology
1970 – 1980
1971 Kidney Transplant (India’s first successful kidney transplant)
1976 Artificial Kidney Lab
1977 RUHSA First External Quality Assurance Scheme for 59 Indian labs
1978 Betatron ICMR Centre for Advanced Research in Virology; Nambikkai Nilayam (an institute for children with special needs)
1980 – 1990
1981 Ophthalmology hospital in the Schell campus
1982 Degree programmes in Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy
Low Cost Effective Care Unit started
1984 Department of Continuing Medical Education
1985 Epidemiology Resource Centre
1986 National AIDS Reference and Surveillance Centre,
Bone marrow transplant (India’s first),
MSc Biostatistics
1987 CONCH
1990 – 2000
1991 Dr Ida B. Scudder Radiation Therapy Block
1994 Clinical Pastoral Counselling diploma course
1995 Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Reproductive Medicine Unit;
Department of Endocrinology
1996 Carotid Bifurcation Stenting (India’s first);
Trans-septal Carotid Stenting (world’s first);
Trans-jugular Mitral Valvuloplasty (world’s first);
Distance Education Unit;
Family Medicine programme
1997 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit;
Developmental Paediatrics Unit;
Clinical Pharmacy post-graduate diploma course;
In-Vitro Fertilisation via gamete intrafallopian tube transfer (India’s first)
1998 Bone marrow transplant in 6-month-old baby (India’s first);
Total body irradiation for bone marrow transplantation (CMC’s first)
1999 Intracytoplasmic sperm injection for infertility (CMC’s first);
Liver transplantation (CMC’s first);
WHO’s 50th anniversary award for the best institution providing primary health care in 1999
2000 Ida S. Scudder Centenary Centre for Women and Children
2000 – 2010
2001 PACS for Radiology
2002 Medical Oncology Unit; Cytogenetics Lab
2003 Vellore Bombay Artificial Limb; Department of Bioengineering;
Palliative Care Unit
2004 H1 Grading by Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency;
Rheumatology Unit;
Medical Genetics Unit;
Telemedicine Unit;
South Asian Cochrane Network;
Department of Medical Education
2005 Living donor liver transplant (CMC’s first);
Department of Continuing Nursing Education;
Surgical ventricular restoration (CMC’s first);
IDTRC
2006 PG Diploma in Family Medicine (Distance Education course)
2007 CSCR Pneumatic Tube Conveyor System for laboratory samples;
Fellowship in Secondary Hospital Medicine;
Missions Office
2008 Anti-Retroviral Therapy Centre;
Department of Geriatric Medicine
2009 Endovascular repair of aortic aneurysm using three chimney grafts (first);
Successful ABO-incompatible renal transplant (India’s first);
Interventional pulmonary services;
Cardiac Electrophysiology Unit;
Department of Hospital Management Studies and Training
2010 Chittoor Hospital campus foundation stone laid
First PET Scanner in India
Social Responsibility Award
Field Research Facility
College of Nursing (CON) receives GFATM award
Florence Taylor Memorial Library opens in CON
Medical Education Unit recognised as Regional Centre
2010 till date
2011 School of Optometry; E-learning classroom;
Advanced Medical Simulation lab
2012 Medical Physics Education and Research
Block;
Medical undergraduate seats increase from 60
to 100;
Superspeciality courses in Endocrinology,
Hepatology, Neonatology, Rheumatology, Endocrine Surgery and Vascular Surgery
2014 BMJ Award 2014 for Primary Healthcare in Challenging Circumstances
SKOCH Order of Merit Awards 2014 for GIS and Tribal Healthcare
2015 Superspeciality courses in Critical Care and Hand Surgery;
MD Nuclear Medicine
WHO’s Public Health Champions Award
2016 5th International Consultation
2017 Bricklaying ceremony for trauma care centre, at Kannigapuram Campus
2018 Centenary of Medical Education (1918 – 2018)