HIV, polio, now Covid — How CMC Vellore has been leading healthcare & research for 121 yrs

An aerial view of the front of the Christian Medical College in Vellore | Photo: www.cmch-vellore.edu

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New Delhi: India’s one and a half year battle against the angry coronavirus has mainly counted government institutes among its brave soldiers.

But in the group of ICMR, AIIMS, NIV Pune, CDL Kasauli or CCMB Hyderabad, a private institute is far above the top in its contribution – the Christian Medical College, Vellore.

The doctors Jayprakash Muliyil, T. Jacob John, Priya Abraham, Gagandeep Kang – the standard bearers of Covid research – all come from this institute in Tamil Nadu, which was founded 121 years ago.

The pandemic aside, CMC’s impact on India’s medical care and innovation has been impressive.

T. Jacob John, celebrated virologist and retired professor at Christian Medical College, was out of breath when he told ThePrint of the institute’s pioneering work.

The first open heart surgery in India, the first detection of HIV in a blood sample, the first reconstructive surgery for leprosy in the world, the first bone marrow transplant in India and the first polio-free village in the country … the list goes on.

Despite being a 3,000-bed facility, the underlying spirit of the CMC has remained the same for over a century, according to the institute’s staff – making health care and health education accessible to the less privileged.

Also read: Meet Gagandeep Kang, the Shimla scientist who helps save the lives of thousands of Indian children

The story: CMC is the result of an American woman’s vision

On a fateful night in 1894, three harried men knocked separately on the door of the Christian missionary and doctor John Scudder in Tindivanam in what is now Tamil Nadu.

The desperate men sought help for their pregnant wives who were critical in labor.

Unfortunately, over a hundred years ago prevailing social norms did not allow a male doctor to treat female patients in this area. That meant Scudder’s untrained daughter Ida could only see the would-be mothers.

All three women died that night giving birth – a tragedy that touched the 24-year-old deeply and led her to pursue a career in medicine.

Ida S. Scudder’s mission was to make quality health care affordable for women in India.

After completing her education in the United States, she returned in 1900 and started a small hospital in Vellore – to teach medicine to women.

As the granddaughter of the first American medical missionary, Dr. John Scudder, Ida taught the first group of seventeen herself.

Over the years and decades that followed, Ida Scudder’s small hospital grew into a leading light in the modern Indian healthcare system – Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore.

Ida Scudder’s portrait in the Heritage Center on the CMC campus in Vellore | Photo: www.cmch-vellore.edu

“Mission, Passion, Service”

The private, jointly Christian medical faculty, clinic and research facility have always been at the center of current discourses such as Covid.

From studying the virus to researching cures, CMC doctors have kept pace with government institutions such as ICMR, AIIMS and NIV Pune, among others.

Muliyil, one of India’s leading epidemiologists and currently chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Epidemiology, was among those who started the first epidemiology course in India at CMC Vellore in 1992.

The physician is thanks to the CMC’s support for his education at a time when his family could not afford the fees.

While working in the community health department, the Muliyil Institute also offered the opportunity to receive epidemiology training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA.

“One thing that the university does very meticulously is to train the staff whenever possible and usually send them to a foreign university to bring in subjects that weren’t available in the CMC,” he said.

This is why CMC has a long list of “firsts” in medical health, senior physicians said.

T. Jacob John told ThePrint that faculty and students share healthy equality and a sense of respect for one another. “That makes a major contribution to the institute’s lead in research,” he said.

“When HIV was a huge crisis in the west, I thought it could never come to India because we didn’t have homosexuals. However, a doctoral student changed my thinking. “

CMC Vellore was the first institute in India to screen blood samples for the HIV virus – and the country’s first HIV-positive sample was screened under the aegis of John, then director of the virology division.

Like Muliyil, John was able to train in virology – an area still under-explored in India – thanks to the CMC’s policy of giving faculties extended leave to study abroad.

During a four-year hiatus from CMC, John studied microbiology in the UK and the US – although until then his main interest was pediatrics.

His education put John at the forefront of one of India’s success stories – its polio vaccination program. John’s pulse polio program made Vellore the first polio-free city in India.

From a small one-person lab, the virology department has now expanded to five full-time faculty members, he said.

The “Christian spirit of healing,” the philosophy of not benefiting from medicine, and a caring environment set CMC Vellore apart from other institutions in India, John added.

“Christianity is full of messages about healing, and this passion fueled the early missionaries. Today, that message continues to permeate the CMC community, ”he said.

Former CMC director Muliyil said health was a “very strange job”. “Doctors make money when someone is sick. This curiosity is highlighted at the institution. We need to think about whether to make money from people’s misfortunes or to be a guardian angel, ”he said.

Muliyil added that this lasting narrative has spawned “very few private practitioners from the CMC”.

The top doctor also said that low salaries put a strain on those who want to earn more. He said, “There is a kind of selection bias. The salaries paid here are relatively low. So people who want a better standard of living choose not to work at the CMC. “

“Dedication and passion to serve” is what CMC is looking for in the people it connects, Muliyil added.

Also read: Scientist who NIV just before Covid hit India and how she is dealing with the crisis

Annual Tuition Fees: Rs 3,000 for MBBS students, Rs 400 for PG

At a time when healthcare education is becoming heavily commercialized, CMC has kept college fees low.

Dr. John Victor Peter, the current director of CMC, said the annual tuition fee for MBBS students is 3,000 rupees. For doctoral students, the annual tuition fee is 400 rupees.

Other fees, including library and dorm fees, cost up to Rs 40.00 per year for an undergraduate student, he told ThePrint.

Muliyil added, “This is a statement to the students. This education is given to them. And they are told that they are a gift to others. “

The bond between professors and students is strong and informal.

From the moment a student walks on campus, they “feel like they own the place,” Muliyil said.

John said the students could always meet with professors in their home on campus. “Professors here are like foster parents,” he said.

Aside from Muliyil and John, two other names have been at the forefront of the Covid pandemic – Gagandeep Kang and Priya Abraham – both of which are associated with CMC.

Gagandeep Kang is the first Indian scientist to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and Priya Abraham is the director of NIV Pune.

Abraham was with the CMC when the post of Director of NIV Pune became vacant. “ICMR chief Balram Bhargava struggled to find a new director after Dr. DT Mourya ended in July 2019, “said John.

“A professor at CMC suggested the name of Priya Abraham for the position. She didn’t want to leave the CMC, but was given three years to serve at the NIV, ”he said.

According to John, Abraham’s appointment as director of NIV could not have come at a more propitious time. Abraham was appointed just two months before the country discovered its first Covid case.

Meanwhile, Kang is vice chairman of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) – a global collaboration that ensures fair distribution of vaccines. In the past she was part of the team that made the indigenous rotavirus vaccine.

She was also granted a four-year leave of absence to serve as director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute in Faridabad.

Other notable names from the CMC include Prathibha Varkey, who was named President of the Mayo Clinic Health System; Mammen Chandy, who performed the first thalassemia bone marrow transplant in India at CMC; and Usha Menon, a gynecologist named Asian Woman of the Year in 2006.

Virologist T. Jacob John is most excited about the appointment of Priya Abraham as NIV Pune director. “Imagine … if the CMC didn’t carefully train and nurture its staff, NIV – the backbone of Indian Covid research – might have been without a director when the crisis hit India,” he signed.

Also read: Meet Gagandeep Kang, the Shimla scientist who helps save the lives of thousands of Indian children

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source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/hiv-polio-now-covid-how-cmc-vellore-has-been-leading-healthcare-research-for-121-yrs/