An Overview of CMC Vellore

The Christian Medical College (CMC Vellore) is a private and unaided Christian minority educational institute which includes a string of hospitals in and around Vellore, Tamil Nadu. It was founded in 1900 by Ida Sophia Scudder, the daughter of a medical missionary. It was initially started as a one room dispensary for patients and the very first hospital in the series the Schell Memorial Hospital was built in the year 1902 which accommodated around 40 patients. The college now goes on to offer a variety of courses ranging from graduation, post-graduation and higher specialty courses in Nursing, MBBS, Allied health sciences and Bioengineering.

DISCPLINES

 MEDICAL EDUCATION: The CMC College, Vellore, began a 100 years back in the year 1918 with a training programme for women known as the Licentiate Diploma. The medical school was upgraded to the status of a college in the year 1942 and in 1950 it went on to be permanently affiliated to the Madras University. From the year 1953 to 2012 the number of admissions has been gradually increased from 50 to 100. The institution is best known for its contributions in the development of Community Based Education as well as in specialties like Cardiology, Thoracic Surgery, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Urology, Nephrology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology and Hematology. The college is currently offering 17 higher specialty courses. In addition to that Masters courses in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Medical Physics, Public Health, Bioengineering and Clinical Engineering and M.Phil. in Hospital and Health Systems Management is also on offer.

 NURSING EDUCATION: The year 1904 marked the beginning of nursing education in CMC when Dr Ida Scudder along with Miss Lillian Hart, a well-trained nurse, started to train Indian women in nursing. In 1909, Delia Houghton, another registered nurse visited India as the first instructor of the very first training school with five students. This programme was later upgraded in 1932 to a higher grade training which is now known as Diploma in Nursing. The four year B.Sc. Nursing programme was initiated and affiliated to the Madras University in 1946, which was the first of its kind in the country. The Nursing College has since then went on to achieve milestones, setting trends and training nurses to serve the larger cause of the country. Currently the College of Nursing admits 100 students in both Diploma Nursing and B.Sc. Nursing programmes every year.

 ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES: Along with its success in both the medical and nursing disciplines, the college had also started to train skilled personnel in varied allied health sciences. The very first programme to be incorporated was the compounder training programme which was later upgraded as the Diploma in Pharmacy. Since then many diploma courses like Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Medical Laboratory Technology and Medical Record Science have also been upgraded. Currently the institution offers 19 degree and 21 diploma programmes.

COURSE HIGHLIGHTS

 CMC Vellore provides for a varied number of courses under both U.G as well as P.G. Both the MBBS and BSc Nursing programmes are well renowned undergraduate courses. Apart from these two, CMC also has several other courses in the U.G category namely- BSc in Critical Care Technology, Dialysis Technology, Cardiac Technology, etc. CMC also offers a wide range of post graduate and higher specialty courses. The students are awarded with MD, MS, DM and M.CH degrees.

Following is a list of some of the U.G and P.G courses:

U.G COURSES -

1. MBBS
2. BSc ( NURSING)
3. BSc (OPTOMETRY TECHNOLOGY)
4. BSc (MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY)
5. BSc ( CARDIAC TECHNOLOGY)

P.G COURSES –

1. MD( ANAESTHESIA)
2. DCP ( CLINICAL PATHOLOGY)
3. MD ( GENERAL MEDICINE)
4. MD ( OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY)
5. MD ( PAEDIATRICS)

CAMPUS

There are two main campuses namely the Vellore campus and the Bagayam campus. The main campus on the southern outskirts of the Vellore city is a 200-acre spacious campus at the foot of the college hill. Built in 1932 it is a residential community wherein students and teachers both can reside and study in the beautiful and serene surroundings.  The major chunk of students live in the hostels .The MBBS and the Nursing programmes are fully residential whereas the other courses allow day scholars. The Bagayam  campus has 4 different hostels namely, the Women’s and Men’s Hostels for MBBS students, the Fitch Hostel for Allied Health women  students,  the Dorothy Joske Hostel for Allied Health men students and the Modale International Hostel for elective / visitor-observer students from overseas. 

FACILITIES

LIBRARY:  The institution provides for two libraries in separate locations. The Dodd Memorial Library at the hospital campus and the Gault Library at the college campus in Bagayam. There is a well-organized Medical Records Library in the institution as well as a departmental records system.  The library is well equipped and stocked with all kinds of reference materials, multimedia collections, journals and databases to suit all needs.

MEDICAL FACILITIES: The town campus houses the main hospital where any of the students can avail medical facilities as per their need. CMC has over 8,800 staff, including over 1,528 doctors and 2,400 nurses. Each and every need of the patient is looked after. Being a nonprofit institution, the hospital provides for committed and renowned doctors who prioritize their patients above everything else.

FACULTY

 The institution has a highly qualified faculty with immense expertise. The faculty mostly comprises of doctors with doctoral degrees in their respective fields. 

Some Notable Faculty Members:

• Dr Sunil Thomas Chandy - Director, CMC
• Dr Vinayak Shukla - Professor and Head, Dept of Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Dr Bina Isaac - Professor and Head , Dept of Anatomy
• Dr Moses Kirubairaj - Assistant Professor, Dept of Family Medicine
• Ms Divya Isaac - Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesia

ADMISSION PROCEDURE

 CMC conducts entrance exams for nearly all the U.G and P.G courses except for MBBS. For the MBBS course, NEET scores are applicable. The mode of application is online for all the respective courses. MBBS candidates can apply online once the NEET scores are released, following which students need to upload their scores on the website. Students can pay the application fee either online or through a Bank Challan.

UG COURSES:

• Mode of admission - Those who wish to apply can register online through the official website.
• Eligibility-

        All Courses other than MBBS - Students should have passed class 12th in relevant                      stream with 50% marks.

        MBBS Courses - Students should have passed class 12th with an aggregate of 60%                    marks with Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English as main subjects.

• Selection-

       All courses other than MBBS - Admissions on the basis of entrance exam conducted by               institute followed by an interview.

       MBBS - On the basis of NEET entrance exam followed by an interview for shortlisted                   candidates.

PG COURSES:

• Application Dates - In September for postgraduate courses and in March for higher specialty courses.
• Selection Procedure - Through entrance exam
• Entrance Dates - Post graduate courses – In November

                                    Higher Specialty courses – In May

• Eligibility-

              Diploma, MD, MS courses - MBBS + 1 Year Internship + Medical Council Registration

              Higher Specialty D.M and M.CH courses - MBBS + 1 Year Internship + MD/MS +                        Medical Council Registration.

CMC VELLORE SCHOLARSHIPS

 The main motto of the institution is to provide education, training and professional development to all prospective candidates. CMC takes complete care of the fact that monetary concerns should not come in the way of education and for achieving that purpose despite of its cost effective fee structure it also provides scholarships. Scholarships are generally available for all undergraduate courses. It is awarded according to the economic needs of the candidate and covers all or part of the tuition and accommodation fees. All deserving candidates are eligible for scholarships following a due assessment.

CMC VELLORE RANKINGS

• NIRF (2018) : 3
• INDIA TODAY (2017) : 3
• OUTLOOK INDIA (2017) : 3
• THE WEEK (2017) : 2