The CMC Story

Who we are 

  • One of the top-ranked educational, healthcare and research institutes in the country. 

  • CMC’s network of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary care teaching hospitals spread across six campuses in and around Vellore, is, together, a 3844-bedded multi-speciality medical institution of international repute. 

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. 

In 2018, we celebrated the centenary of medical education - and this year, in 2020, we celebrate 120 years of CMC Vellore. 

Medical education 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. 

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.

Synopsis of CMC in a booklet format