Hearts and Hands: 100 years of healing

As we celebrate 100 years of the Town Campus, the story of the famous three knocks still lingers in our ears. CMC Vellore’s founder Ida Sophia Scudder was inspired by three desperate knocks on her door, seeking help for women in critical need. This profound experience led her to start a single-bed dispensary which went on to become the Christian Medical College Vellore, dedicated to providing compassionate healthcare to those most in need.

It was in December 19, 1923, that the first hospital building was inaugurated on the Town Campus – for a single-storey outpatient dispensary. Services started in 1924, after the hustle and bustle of Christmas. The surgical beds moved to a new ward built above the Cole Dispensary, name after Cole who are the supporters of the hospital building programme.

By 1928, the hospital on the town site had 140 beds in four blocks, four outpatient clinics, and two operation theatres.

Over the years, it has grown into a world-renowned hospital, emerging as a leader in healthcare, both in India and globally, touching countless lives along the way.

A snapshot of the many firsts of Town Campus

1948 

World’s first Reconstructive Surgery on leprosy patients 

1961 

India’s first successful Open Heart Surgery 

India’s First Middle Ear Microsurgery 

1971 

India’s First successful Kidney Transplant 

1986 

India’s First Bone Marrow Transplant in Thalassemia 

1996 

India’s First Carotid Bifurcation Stenting 

World’s First Trans-septal Carotid Stenting 

World’s First Trans-jugular Mitral Valvuloplasty 

1997 

India’s First In Vitro Fertilisation via Gamete Intrafallopian Tube Transfer 

2009 

India’s First successful ABO Incompatible Renal Transplant 

2021 

India’s First Transjugular Pulmonary Valve Implantation 

India’s First Transfemoral Tricuspid Valve Implantation 

2022 

South India’s first Level 1 Trauma Care Centre at the CMC Vellore Ranipet Campus  

2023 

India’s First Brainlab ExacTrac – Frameless Stereotactic Irradiation with Thermal and Surface Guidance for Real-time Monitoring 

India’s First hospital with Hyperfine Swoop Low-field Portable MRI Scanner 

World’s First human clinical trial of gene therapy for haemophilia A (FVIII deficiency) conducted at CMC’s Stem Cell Research Centre