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"Please care for me as you would your white cow," a young Indian woman begged her missionary
surgeon, Dr. Edith Mary Brown. Touched by this plea, Dr. Brown recorded the words in her diary.
One of the earliest British women physicians, she understood the woman's desire that her life
be held as sacred as the Hindus view white cows.
Baptist missionary Dr. Edith Brown saw the desperate need of medical and nursing care for, and
by, women at a time when many of the women were in purdah (seclusion) in North India.
A gathering of women missionaries, including Dr. Brown, met in Ludhiana for three days to pray
and discuss the matter. To serve more effectively, they decided to train young Indian Christian
women to be medical missionaries among their own people. Ludhiana was chosen because it already
had an established American Presbyterian Mission Center and being on the Grand Trunk Road, it was
a good location for medical work.
So, in 1894 Dr. Edith Brown founded the school and hospital with "four students, a borrowed
hospital, some school rooms and fifty pounds".
The first four medical students
What she lacked in resources she made up for with tremendous faith in her Lord Jesus Christ. She
remained unperturbed by the lack of money, the hostile climate and hordes of detractors, who appear
to have remained a "constant companion" throughout the existence of the institution. She believed
that "to the true servant of God all places & all times are acceptable."
For over fifty years the facility was run by women, for women and children. Events in India however
would bring great change. In 1947, on the coattails of Independence, 90,000 Moslems were evacuating
the city of Ludhiana while 150,000 Hindus and Sikhs entered. During the resulting riots, the city
was flooded with casualties and overnight the hospital had to cope with injured male patients.
From that time, men have been included as patients, staff and students.
For the institute to survive in a new Independent India it was necessary to make major upgrades to
the facility. Almost all western missionary societies responded to the call for help with faculty
and finances. In 1953, 25 men & 25 women were admitted to the first MBBS degree course. And in
1957 a larger, more modern, 328 bed hospital was opened. A landmark in the history of the school,
it was named Brown Memorial Hospital. Even today, villagers know Christian Medical College and
Hospital (CMCH) as "Brown Hospital".
The decades since have been a time of growth and expansion, with CMCH continually striving to
improve and struggling to survive. In many ways, their focus today is not so different from that
of their founders. Although CMCH is providing groundbreaking services in northern India, such as
open heart surgery, renal transplants, dialysis and more, the need is still great. "We try to meet
the needs of the people who fall through the cracks," explains director Dr. Silas Charles. "The
Punjab has a population of 20 million, without CMCL (Christian Medical College Ludhiana) it would
be a horrendous problem for the poor as the Government is unable to provide health care for them.
We provide rural healthcare within a 30-kilometer radius of Ludhiana. Communities are encouraged
to build their own clinics, and then we help them with staffing". Healthcare services for the poor
are made possible through grants and donations from overseas.
For over 100 years Christian Medical College and Hospital Ludhiana has been enriching the healthcare
in northern India by training medical professionals and providing quality medical services. It is
a continuing challenge to bring this large medical college and 775 bed hospital into the 21st
century.
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