Overview
Christian Medical College, Vellore, widely known as CMC, Vellore, is a private, nonprofit, Christian minority community-run medical college and hospital located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. The institution operates a network of primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitals and serves as a teaching centre for medical, nursing and allied health sciences.
The college was founded in 1900 by an American missionary, Dr Ida S. Scudder. Over the decades, it has grown from its missionary origins into a multi-disciplinary institution offering undergraduate, postgraduate and super-speciality programmes. As a constituent college, it is affiliated with the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University.
CMC Vellore has been associated with several pioneering achievements in Indian medicine. It established the first College of Nursing in India in 1946. In 1948, surgeons at the institution performed the first reconstructive surgery for leprosy in the world. In 1961, the first successful open heart surgery in India was carried out at CMC, followed by the first kidney transplant in India in 1971. The hospital also performed the first bone marrow transplantation in India in 1986, and in 2009 it carried out the first successful ABO incompatible kidney transplant in the country.
Alongside clinical care and surgical services, the institution is known for its emphasis on community health, rural outreach and training programmes that link tertiary hospital practice with primary and secondary care centres in the region.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Christian Medical College, Vellore.