Madras Medical College



The Madras Medical College or M.M.C. is a prominent educational institution located in Chennai, India. It was established on February 2nd, 1835 and is one of the oldest medical schools of the Indian subcontinent.

It is probably the second oldest medical college in India, second only to the Calcutta Medical College in Kolkata. The claim for the first medical college in the country is in doubt since the Calcutta Medical College also officially started functioning from February, 1835.

Early history
The Government General Hospital was started on 16th November 1664 as a small hospital to treat the sick soldiers of the British East India Company. It was the untiring inspiring efforts of Sir Edward Winter who was the agent of the company that materialized in the first British Hospital at Madras.

In its early days, the Hospital was housed at the Fort St. George and in the next 25 years, it grew into a formal medical facility. Governor Sir. Elihu Yale was instrumental in the development of the Hospital and gave it new premises within the Fort in 1690.

The Hospital moved out of the Fort after the Anglo-French War and it took 20 long years before it could settle in the present permanent place in 1772. By the year 1772, the Hospital was training Europeans, Eurasians and natives in Allopathic methods of diagnosis and treatment and methods of preparing medicines. These trained personnel were posted to various dispensaries in the district head-quarters of the then Madras Presidency to assist the qualified doctors. By 1820, the institution had the recognition as the model hospital of the East India Company. In 1827, Dr. D.Mortimar was appointed as the Superintendent of the Hospital.

The college started off as a private medical hall run by Dr. Mortimar, and was regularised into a medical school in 1835, which was opened by the then Governor Sir Frederick Adams. The Governor then promulgated an ordinance and hence the school was attached to the Government General Hospital and was sponsored by the state. It is currently the oldest medical school in India as per the Government record dates.

Indians were admitted into the school in 1842, and since then the school started expanding. In the next two decades, the teaching staff had increased, the duration of the course extended and the curriculum was made comprehensive.

In the early part of 1850, the school council submitted proposals to the Government to accord the status of a College. On October 1st, 1850, it was accorded this status, and was christened Madras Medical College or in short, MMC.

The first batch of students graduated in 1852 and were granted the Diploma of Graduate of the Madras Medical College. In 1857, it gained affiliation to the University of Madras.

Affiliation
Since 1857, the college was affiliated to the University of Madras and all degrees of Health Sciences were awarded by the same until 1988 when the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University Act, 1987 received the assent of the President of India. This affiliating University started functioning from July 1988 and is governed by the said Act.

The college was accorded as a separate individual University for a brief stint of a couple of years called the Madras Medical College & Research Institute or in short as MMC & RI. Later, the status as an individual university was withdrawn and the college was affiliated back to the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, dropping the suffix: "Research Institute" in 2000.

Now it is completely within the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University.

Institutions attached to Madras Medical College

 * Government General Hospital, Park Town, Chennai - 600 003
 * Institute of Mental Health, Kilpauk, Chennai - 600 010
 * Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Government Hospital for Women & Children (IOG & GH WC), Egmore, Chennai - 600 008
 * Institute of Child Health and Government Hospital for Children (ICH & HC), Egmore, Chennai - 600 008
 * Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital, Chennai (RIOGOH), Egmore, Chennai - 600 008
 * Government Kasturbha Gandhi Hospital for Women & Children (KGH), Chennai - 600 005
 * Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, K.K. Nagar, Chennai - 600 083
 * Institute of Thoracic Medicine and Chest Diseases, Chetpet, Chennai - 600 031
 * Government Peripheral Hospital, Periyar Nagar, Chennai
 * Communicable Diseases Hospital (CDH), Tondiarpet, Chennai - 600 081.

Current status
In 1996, when the city Madras was renamed as Chennai, the college was also renamed as the Chennai Medical College but it was later re-renamed back to the age old name of Madras Medical College, since the college was popularly known world-wide by the older name only.

The Government General Hospital has a reputation of being one of the best in the state and ranks among the top ten in the Indian Subcontinent. The entire hospital block has been remodelled with the reconstruction of the massive twin towers in lieu of the original hospital block which represented buildings which were more than a century old.

Honors and awards
The College is primarily a medical college and includes approximately 84 departments. The first lady doctor in the English Speaking world and also the first Indian lady doctor graduated from this prestigious institution.

The institution has a strong academic base awarding 80 medals and prizes to candidates every year. The Johnstone medal is the most prestigious medal awarded to the medical student of highest academic excellence at the completion of their medical education.

Approximately 20% of the graduates go abroad, mostly US and UK for residency and fellowship training. Some of them are currently in top US and UK Hospitals and Universities:

1. Dr. Pramood Chakravarthy Kalikiri - Fellow, Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital.

2. Dr. Raja Rajan Gopaldas - Fellow, Cardiothoracic surgery, Baylor College of Medicine/ Texas Heart Institute, USA.

3. Dr. Madhulabalan Mani, Surgery Resident, Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA.

4. Dr. Murali Karthik Vadivelu, PhD at Cambridge University, UK.

5. Dr. Vijay Ganesh Divakar, Fellow, Cardiology, Baylor College of Medicine, USA. 6. Dr. Nagapradeep Nagajothi, Fellow, Cardiology and Assistant Professor of Medicine, The Chicago Medical School, USA

Ranking in India
As per the Doctor NDTV Survey (2007), the ranking of the Medical Colleges in India is as follows (though other surveys may give other ranks):

1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi (Central Govt.)

2. Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore (Pvt.)

3. Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune (Ministry of Defence)

4. JIPMER, Pondicherry (Central Govt.)

5. Madras Medical College (MMC), Chennai (State Govt.)

6. St. John's Medical College, Bangalore (Pvt.)

7. Kasturba Medical College, Manipal (Pvt.)

8. Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Delhi (State Govt.)

9. Stanley Medical College, Chennai (State Govt.)

10. Grant Medical College, Mumbai.

College song
Oh! Glorious Alma mater!

Oh, Gracious mother supreme

Oh, We, your grateful alumni

Of the past, present and future

Over here and across the seas

And Hail thee proudly

March on MMC.

Many have been our achievements

Many have been our accomplishments

Many have been our attainments

Many sadly too have been our losses

Many miseries have been our crosses

Many sorrows silently felt:

Regardless of all - march on MMC.

"Care for the sick" is thy duty

"Learn to heal" is thy motto

"Cure the illness" is thy aim

"Learn to help" is thy object.

May God bless this, our effort

May Goodwill, goodness prevail to

Conquer disease M.M.C.

March... March on... March on MMC.

Administration
The college and hospital are funded and managed by the state Government of Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Head of the institution is the Dean, followed by the Vice - Principal.

Admissions
Admissions to the Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) and the Post-graduate (MD, MS, other diplomas and other higher specialties) are through the Tamil Nadu state quota (for e.g.: 85% of seats in the MBBS program) and through the National/ Central quota (for e.g.: 15% of seats in the MBBS program). Reservations of seats and reduced tuition fees are available to the underserved communities in both the quotas. Admissions are open only to Indian citizens and are highly competitive.

MBBS Program
Approximately, the MBBS program has 175 seats of student intake per year. About 1 in 40 applicants are accepted to the MBBS program statewide (about 1500 seats in 15 medical colleges throughout Tamil Nadu), and only the top-rankers among those accepted to the MBBS program statewide are admitted to the MMC since it ranks as the 1st medical school in the state of Tamil Nadu.

State Quota
It consists of 85% of total number of seats; filled by the Directorate of Medical Education under the state Government of Tamil Nadu.

The State-level entrance exam was the TNPCEE (the Tamil Nadu Professional Course Entrance Examination) which has been discontinued by the Government of Tamil Nadu from the academic year 2007. Earlier, the admissions to the MBBS program were based on a weighted aggregate of the Entrance exam and the High school final exam scores. Now, the admission is entirely based on the High School final exam scores and the seats are filled on the basis of inter-se merit ranking.

National/ Central Quota
It consists of 15% of total number of seats of student intake per year.

The National level entrance exam is the All India PreMedical PreDental Examination (AI PM/ PD test) which is a very competitive exam. The seats under the Central quota are filled on the basis of the scores and ranking by the AI PM/ PD test alone and do not take into consideration the High school final exam scores.

Post Graduate Programs
The seats in the different Post-graduate programs (Diploma and Degree programs) are filled by:
 * State level PG Entrance Exam
 * National level PG Entrance Exam

Several seats (about 50% of the state quota seats) are also reserved for the Physicians in the Tamil Nadu Government service.

Classes (with year of entry)
This institution is known for the quality of its students and the camaraderie among them. Every class of MBBS students has assigned to itself an (unofficial) name denoting the year of their entry into the medical school.

The Recent batches are:
 * Cohorts 95
 * Zealots 96
 * Adroits 97
 * Gallants 98
 * Triumphants 99, "the Trendsetters"
 * Genezens 2000 or Genezens 2k, "Born to Heal"
 * Valiants 2001
 * Xanthrons 2002
 * Nimrotz 2003
 * Zenolantz 2004
 * Troezianz 2005
 * Krenoviantz 2006, "Defenders of mankind"