CMC’s Education programmes

Objectives

Paramedics on motobikes
Paramedics on motobikes

The mandate of CMC Ludhiana is to train doctors, nurses and paramedicals to serve the needy throughout the country. This includes training personnel to staff the small Christian hospitals in India of which there are some 300. Some students will be sponsored by church and other bodies through their training and will therefore be bonded to return to serve with those organisations; others will go into pioneering situations to establish medical services in deprived areas.

It is therefore important that the training offered to students of all disciplines includes the opportunity to work within the community. They can become aware of the variety of conditions and situations under which people live and gain experience in recognising and treating illnesses and diseases they will encounter in rural areas without the use of sophisticated equipment.

Training

The Medical College admits 75 students each year to the MBBS course, four and a half years’ duration plus a year’s internship. There are also many opportunities for post-graduate studies leading to further qualifications. The College of Nursing offers a degree (B.Sc.[N]) course and a diploma (General Nursing and Midwifery) course.

Both nursing courses are of three years’ duration although the degree course has an additional internship year. There are around 400 students in the College at any one time including those undertaking post-graduate diploma specialty courses and M.Sc. studies. The Friends of Ludhiana operates a Nurse Sponsorship Scheme to provide financial assistance to poorer Christian nurses who are showing promise in their studies. The Dental College seeks to meet the need for qualified dentists in India where it is estimated there is only one dentist per 85,000 of population. Forty students are admitted each year to the B.D.S. course. A two year Chair-side Assistants’ Course is also offered, believed to be the first such training in India, and ten students are trained each year in the taking of X-ray films, maintaining sterile instruments and conditions, acting as hygienists and helping in the laboratory.

Paramedical training is also available for diagnostic and radiotherapy radiographers and the institution also incorporates training programmes for laboratory technicians.

All the Colleges are now affiliated to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences at Faridkot.

Visits

All Colleges welcome the visits of senior academic staff to conduct workshops and carry out lecture tours. Electives can provide valuable overseas experience for students in any of the medical or paramedical disciplines.

Friends of Ludhiana facilitates volunteer visits and helps explore the possibility of links between academic departments in the U.K. and departments at CMC Ludhiana.