Founder's day celebrated at CMC & Hospital

Ludhiana :It was time of Pardah. Women used to prefer Burqa or Pardah. In that tough time.The Christian Medical College and Hospital was established in 1894 by a British Baptist missionary, Dr. Edith Brown, who saw the desperate need of medical and nursing care for. She wrote a new and glorious history of Ludhiana in the medical field. According to Wikipedia Dame Edith Mary Brown (24 March 1864 – 6 December 1956) was the founder of The Christian Medical College Ludhiana, the first medical training facility for woman in Asia.

Brown was born in Whitehaven on 24 March 1846.She graduated from Girton College, Cambridge, one of the first woman to be admitted to the Honours Degree Examination at the University of Cambridge in 1882. After graduating she studied medicine at Edinburgh and in Brussels, where she finally qualified as a doctor of medicine.

Brown sailed from London on 17 October 1891 on the S.S. Oceana as a second class passenger.

She was appointed to the medical mission at Ludhiana in Punjab, where she organized a Christian medical training center for Indian woman. The school was officially recognized by the government in 1915.

Her motto was: "My work is for a King"

She retired as principal of the College in 1942.

She died 6 December 1956 in Srinagar, India

Additional information added by Church History Fan

The Annual Founder’s Day celebrations of Christian Medical College, Ludhiana were held on March 24, 2011. 

This day is celebrated in the loving memory of CMC’s founder, Dame Edith Brown, who realized the need for training the nurses and doctors to serve the community. Her initiative over 100 years ago now stands as one of the premier medical institutions in India. Nearly 50 alumni from the reunion batches visited their alma mater, some of them decades after having left the portals of Christian Medical College!

There was a Continuing Medical Education programme in which eminent speakers from the reunion batches of 1961 and 1980 delivered scientific talks. Visiting alumni, alumni from the city and nearby towns and CMC faculty and students attended the scientific session with great interest. After the CME, the Alumni shared their experiences since graduation and also narrated anecdotes about their time spent in CMC many years ago.

Dr. Abraham G. Thomas, Director, CMC & Hospital and  Dr. S. M. Bhatti, Principal, CMC welcomed the visiting alumni. Dr. Sybil Singh gave away the mementoes. The alumni also visited the hostels, college and hospital premises to relive old memories and to see the newer developments. The day culminated with a gala banquet hosted in the campus lawns along with a colorful cultural program. Compiled & presented by Shalu Arora & Rector Kathuria