The 53rd death anniversary of Dr Ida Scudder, founder of the Christian Medical College (CMC), was commemorated on Saturday with a special prayer and a tribute at her grave in Tollgate area. Locals, led by the NGO Dr Ida Anbukarangal, participated in the tribute.
Back in 1890, when Ida was in Vellore to help her missionary parents from USA, one night three women who were in labour needed help. Not being a doctor, she was reluctant to help and that night all three women died. This incident transformed her and she gave up her dreams of getting married and settling in New York; she instead took up the medical profession and became a gynaecologist. She remained a spinster until she breathed her last in 1960, aged 90.
CMC was started by her as a single-bed dispensary with a grant from Schell, a New York banker, who gave grants in memory of his wife since 1900. This has now grown into a 2,500-bed super-specialty teaching hospital treating patients from all over India and abroad.
In 1903, she began training several compounders and six years later, in 1909, she started the School of Nursing. Her dream came true when a medical school for women was started in 1918, and trained licentiates in medicine. It became a Medical College in 1942 through her determined efforts, and men were admitted from 1947.
CMC’s services have since grown rapidly. Many specialties have come into being and the number of post-graduate courses has increased. Today the college offers 85 recognised training programmes in medicine, nursing and allied fields.