Around the time that Dr. Ida Scudder was starting her work in India, the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS, now known as International Ministries) was also starting hospitals in South India. Two examples are Nellore and anamkonda. Nellore Hospital opened in 1896 as a women’s hospital. Hamamkonda Mission Hospital grew out of the Baptist mission field in the Warangel region, serving as a general hospital. There were others in the South, and in the early 1900s, ABFMS joined the effort to meet medical needs in the North East through opening mission hospitals there, including Satribari, lmpur, and Jorhat.

American Baptist missionaries Dr. John and Mrs. Naomi Carman came to India in 1928. They were first stationed at Hanamkonda, where Dr. John gained mission hospital experience and learned firsthand about the challenges of small, under-resourced institutions. In the mid-1940s, he was invited to CMC Vellore as Associate Professor of Surgery, and he became the CMC Director in the 1950s. During his tenure, CMC expanded infrastructure, professionalized its surgical services, developed postgraduate specialties, and linked mission medicine with global standards of medical education. Naomi served as his administrative assistant, helping CMC to advance in its systematization of medical records.

Dr. John and Naomi’s son, Dr. Bob Carman (who was born at Hanamkonda and spent his teenage years at Vellore), and his wife Lucille served at CMC Vellore as American Baptist missionaries beginning in 1964. Dr. Bob started as the head of the Blood Bank and the department of Clinical Pathology, later becoming the Associate Director from 1981 to 1991. Following their retirement from service in India, Dr. Bob served on the Board of International Ministries and, from 1994 to 1997, as the Executive Director of the CMC Vellore Foundation-reflecting the shift of International Ministries from sending missionary doctors to engaging in long-term partnership.

“Supporting CMC Vellore strengthens the entire mission network and makes quality medical care available to all.”

It is a great pleasure to see how CMC has grown from a mission hospital to one of the premier medical institutions in India, yet without losing its focus on serving the “least of these” through the Department of Community Health and Development and provision of free and low-cost care at CMC Vellore. In addition, CMC is strengthening mission hospitals across India through providing medical second opinions and refurbished equipment and assigning doctors to mission hospitals for their two-year bond service after they compete medical school. CMC is currently developing a program to create medical “hubs” across India that will further strengthen these relationships, improve access to training, and encourage medical research, thus raising the level of care and improving staff retention at mission hospitals.

Although Hanamkonda and the other mission hospitals started by American Baptist missionaries in South India have closed, IM has a rich partnership with the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India, which operates six mission hospitals (Satribari, lmpur, Jorhat, Tura, Kangpokpi, and Babupara). CMC’s longstanding practice of reserving seats for medical and nursing students from the faith-based community has allowed many students from the North East to study at CMC Vellore. Currently, IM is working with both CBCNEI and CMC to continue to strengthen the mission hospitals and provide life-giving services to those who need it the most and are least able to receive it.

At the same time, it is our great privilege to continue to support the research and cutting-edge medical services that CMC Vellore provides. When our colleagues in India, their family members, and patients at local hospitals are faced with challenging conditions, they turn to Vellore for trustworthy advice. Supporting CMC Vellore strengthens the entire mission network and makes quality medical care available to all.

IM and CMC are family. Our histories are intertwined. Our present ministries are interconnected. We share common purposes. As we move into the future, I am excited that we can do this together, with the Foundation serving as a bridge to facilitate our relationship.