Stanley Medical College

Stanley Medical College (SMC) is a government medical college with hospitals, located in Chennai (Madras) in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Though the original hospital is more than 200 years old, the medical college was formally established on July 2, 1938. Stanley Medical College is ranked 9th according to the NDTV ranking of top medical colleges in India.

History
Stanley Medical College and Hospitals is one of the oldest centers in India in the field of medical education. The seed for this institution was sown as early as 1740 when the East India Company first created the medical department. The Stanley Hospital now stands on the old site of the Monegar choultry established in 1782. In 1809 the Assistant John Native Infirmary was established with Monegar Choultry and leper asylum.

In 1830, a well known philanthropist Raja Sir Ramasamy Mudaliar endowed a hospital and dispensary in the Native Infirmary. In 1836, Madras University established M.B. & G.M. and L.M & S Medical Courses in the Native Infirmary. In 1903, a hospital assistant course was introduced with the help of the East India Company. In 1911, the first graduating class was awarded their Licensed Medical Practitioner (LMP) diplomas.

In 1933, Five Year D.M. & S (Diploma in Medicine & Surgery) course was inaugurated by Sir George Fredrick Stanley. The school was named for him by the Governor of Madras Presidency on July 2, 1928. In 1941, three medical and surgical units were created. This was expanded to seven medical and surgical units in 1964. In 1932, 100 students studied, and then from 1963, 150 students were admitted each year. In 1964, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the President of India, laid the foundation stone for College Auditorium to mark Silver Jubilee Celebration.

Description
The College is associated with the Government Stanley Hospital which has 1580 beds for in-patient treatment. The hospital has an out-patient attendance of around 5000 patients per day. An unique feature is its 8-story surgical complex equipped to perform up to 40 surgeries simultaneously, and a separate pediatrics block with all specialities under one roof.

The three well known departments of the Stanley Medical Hospitals are Surgical Gastroenterology, Urology and the Institute of Hand Rehabilitation and Plastic Surgery. The Institute for Research and Rehabilitation of Hand and the Department of Plastic Surgery (IRRH & DPS) is one of the best centers in Southeast Asia. The Department of Surgical Gastroenterology was the first in India to perform a successful liver transplant, under the leadership of Dr. R.P. Shanmugam, Surgical Gastroenterologist and the first among Hospitals/ Hospital Departments in India to obtain the ISO 9001 certification. The Department of Urology performs up to fifty kidney transplants a year.

Admissions
Admissions to Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) and post-graduate (MD, MS, other diplomas and higher specialties) are through state (85% seats) and national (15%) entrance examinations. Reservations of seats and reduced tuition are available to underserved communities. Admissions are open only to Indian citizens, and are highly competitive. Admissions to the MBBS program (about 150 seats per year) are based on a weighted aggregate of the entrance exam and high-school final exam scores. About 1 in 40 applicants are accepted to the MBBS program statewide (about 1500 seats in 15 medical colleges), and only the top-rankers among those accepted to the MBBS program statewide are admitted to Stanley Medical College bringing the effective admission rate to less than 1 in 200. Several seats in post-graduate programs are reserved for physicians in Government service.

Undergraduate Programs
The following undergraduate programs are offered:
 * Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) - Basic medical degree in India, five-and-a-half years duration (4.5 years course work followed by one year compulsory rotational internship).

Postgraduate Programs
Masters programs offered include Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) and Masters in Surgery (M.S.) degrees which consist of a three-year residency. The following programs are offered:

Medicine
 * M.D. General Medicine
 * M.D. Micro Biology
 * M.D. Obstetrics and Gynaecology
 * M.D. Physiology
 * M.D. Pharmacology
 * M.D. Paediatrics
 * M.D. Psychiatric Medicine
 * M.D. Anaesthesiology
 * M.D. Dermatology

Surgery
 * M.S. General Surgery
 * M.S. Anatomy
 * M.S.Ophthalmology

Post graduate diploma programs comprise of a two-year clinical residency. The following programs are offered:


 * D.G.O. Diploma in Gynaecology and Obstetrics
 * D.C.H. Diploma in Child Health
 * D.M.R.D. Diploma in Medical Radio Diagnosis
 * D.L.O. Diploma in Laryngo Otology
 * D.A. Diploma in Anaesthesiology
 * D.Ortho. Diploma in Orthopaedics
 * D.O. Diploma in Ophthalmology
 * D.D. Diploma in Dermatology

Higher specialties
Stanley Medical College also offers several higher specialty fellowship training programs. These include:

Medicine Surgery
 * D.M. Neurology
 * D.M. Cardiology
 * M.Ch. Neurosurgery
 * M.Ch. Plastic Surgery

Attached hospitals

 * Government Stanley Hospital, Chennai 600 001
 * Government Raja Sir Ramasamy Mudaliar (RSRM) Lying-in Hospital, Chennai 600 013
 * Government Hospital for  Thoracic Medicine, Tambaram, Chennai 600 047
 * Government Peripheral Hospital, Tondiarpet, Chennai 600 081

Notable faculty and alumni

 * Prof. R. Venkataswami, founder of IRRH & DPS (Hand Rehabilitation / Plastic Surgery)
 * Brain researcher Dr. V.S. Ramachandran
 * Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. T. Thomas
 * Mohammed Rela, liver transplant surgeon at the King's College Hospital.
 * Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, founder of Apollo Hospitals.
 * Dr David Jayakar, Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Chicago, USA
 * Dr Dilaawar Mistry, Co-Medical Director of Sports Medicine, University of Virginia, Team Physician - USA Swimming, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Classes (with year of entry)
This institution is known for the quality of its students and the camaraderie among them. Old Stanleans Day, the annual alumni reunion takes place on the last Sunday of January every year. Every class of MBBS students has assigned to itself a name denoting the year of entry. Recent years are:


 * The Batch of 1977 (Website)
 * Stanley '86
 * Stanley '87(Groups)
 * Stanley '88 (Website) (Groups)
 * Stanley '89 (Website)
 * Stanley '90 Batch (Website)(Groups)
 * Jalaccans 1991
 * Legaxie 1992 (Website)
 * Frenzy 1993
 * Elysee 1994
 * Nexus 1995
 * Naviyam 1996
 * Ailanto 1997
 * Swazam 1998
 * Aesclepius 1999
 * Swedham 2000
 * Zophureo 2001
 * Sparizm 2002
 * Caduceus 2003
 * Veovyanz 2004
 * Morpheuz 2005

Student activities
SMC has an excellent music group that has won several awards at various inter-college cultural festivals. Euphoria, the annual inter-college cultural festival is popular in the city of Chennai, and often receives participation from other states as well. The college has hockey, football and cricket teams. The students publish the monthly 'Stanley Times' which showcase creative expressions by the students. The Stanley Literary Society also promotes literature and arts among the students.

The Rotaract Club performs free medical service to underserved communities. The college hosts a company of the National Cadet Corps, which is affiliated with the medical division of the Tamil Nadu NCC.

Student facilities
There are separate boarding and lodging facilities (Hostels) for male and female students. The men's hostel has separate kitchen and dining facilities for undergraduates, house surgeons and postgraduates respectively. There are good sports facilities which include a turf pitch for cricket, basketball ground and two table tennis courts. The campus itself is a pleasant one with lots of trees and well-maintained gardens.

It is very unfortunate that the trees in the campus were cut off in Feb 2007, thus giving the college an empty look. The trees were around 70 yrs old and were cut off in the name of expansion. They were a part of the students' college life. And now the sun shines heavily on the college which was once a pleasant and a cool one.