The Christian Medical College, Vellore (CMC) began as one of the several mission hospitals located all over the country in the beginning of 20th century offering primary healthcare. Today with over 2,500 beds and many achievements, it is the beacon of medical education, research and patient care in India.
CMC recognizes that relevant medical education and high quality training are vital for a developing nation such as India. Most of the students getting trained in medical colleges hail from middle and upper strata of society and are unaware of the needs of rural community and urban slums. The hospital environment, where the classroom teaching takes place, is also not representative of the actual challenges faced in a community setting. Compounding this gap further are the rapid advancements in science and technology and the high status attributed to specializations. CMC has thus addressed this need in its training programs by devising community orientation programs for all medical graduates. These training programs are conducted by the Community Health and Training Center (CHTC) and ensure that-(1) The students get exposed to clinical excellence of the highest quality (2) The content of the training is relevant to the needs of the community. Since its establishment in 1954, the department has made community health a compulsory element in the education of nurses and medical students.
