Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College and Hospital

ESTABLISHMENT OF DR SMCSI MEDICAL COLLEGE AND HOSPITAL Healing embraces so many aspects of life. It is a Biblically-based ministry and is seen as the church?s response to Jesus? commission to preach the gospel and heal the sick (Luke 10). It is meeting people at their point of need and helping them on their journey to wholeness. With this Vision in mind and the continued financial support from various sources and the locally generated funds; The Bishops of South Kerala Diocese Rt.Rev.Jesudasan, Rt.Rev.Sam Amritham and Rt.Rev.J W Gladstone took a united step in faith to develop this once abandoned hospital into a tertiary care centre. They believed that in Christ there is healing balm for every disease, restoring power for every infirmity and that God would use this hospital as a vessel to release his healing power. In His ministry on earth Christ spent more time healing than preaching; our lord was a real healer and he healed totally ? not only of the body but of mind and spirit too. We need to emulate our Lord Jesus; Doing more and speaking less. Dr Arthur Fells; the founder of our hospital, once wrote ?It is our aim through the Medical Mission that all should know that Christ stands for life ? free, abundant and eternal Life?. Healing was a part of the mission; He entrusted us to do (Luke 10:9) ?Heal the sick in that town and say to them, ?The kingdom of God has come upon you!? To expand our service further, we required trained professionals- including nurses, doctors and paramedical staff .It was with this vision that we decided to enter into the field of Nursing education and Medical Education. The GNM course was started in 1999.At about the same time; news from political circles gave an indication that the Kerala Government would be making changes in the policy regarding Medical Colleges in private sector .The Government of India wanted to develop more medical colleges in the country in order to reduce the doctor patient ratio; for which they had to make changes in the policy which would be more conducive for private stake holders. It was like a ?green signal? from above; from that day Bishop Gladstone, Dr.Bennet Abraham, Dr.Devansean, Mr.D Lawrence and other office bearers of SKD started collecting guidelines for a new Medical College. We hoped; that with a Medical college we would be able to provide doctors for our mission hospitals and in this way prevent the ?demise of our mission hospitals?.?To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing? With prayers and determination; they took steps in faith; step by step; trusting our Lord completely In 1999 Medical Council of India decided to reduce the area required for starting a Medical College from 150 to 25 acres; andour campus was only 4 acres and 86 cents .But it was not an easy walk through; it was like God was testing us at every point; God was preparing us for bigger task. But we serve a greater God and ?Nothing is impossible for our God?; Sri.D Lawrence the then secretary of South Medical Mission worked tirelessly and played a significant role in accumulating the land as per MCI requirements. In the meantime the hospital was growing by leaps and bounds- in terms of Infrastructure, trained and qualified staff, bed strength and specialists in various fields so that we attained the minimum requirements to apply for a Medical college. The next big barrier that stood before us was ?FINANCES?, crores of rupees were required to make this dream come to reality. We were not ready to give in; we believed that our God would take us through this one too. It was decided to obtain a loan from the scheduled banks. On 23rd August 2001 we received the Essentiality Certificate of Government of Kerala .Consent of affiliation of Kerala University was issued on 27.09.2001. With all these documents we submitted the application for Medical College on 28th August 2001 to the Government of India. The application was accepted by the MCI .There was rejoicing back in karakonam; we were one step closer to our dream, our mission. Now began the Herculean task of setting up the requirements for the first inspection .The Director(Dr Bennet Abraham), Medical Superintendent (Dr.Baburaj), Principal (Dr.Glorine Gnanathankom), Professor of Anatomy (Dr.Neeta Kulkarni) ,Professor of Physiology (Dr.Suseela K Pillai) and Professor of Biochemistry(Dr.Aleyamma Joseph) were appointed respectively. Prof JN Stuart was appointed as Administrator .By the committed efforts of the above experienced professionals and their team and with the unstinted support of the Bishop and the SKD and SKMM officers every detail was set up for the inspection for letter of Intent on in January 2011 .We received Letter of Intent from Government of India on 20.06.2002 ? the first milestone. Next, facilities were set up for the second inspection of MCI ?letter if permission .Infrastructure equipment & faculty were made available as per specifications .The dedicated faculty and the staff worked tirelessly to satisfy the requirements .The inspection took place in August 2002 and on receipt of the report, the Govt of India issued as the Letter of Permission dated 13.11.2002 . Dedication service of the College was conducted on 23rd November 2002 .As per agreement with the Government 50 students were admitted and classes started on 29.11.2002. All students were required to stay in the hostel. Even a tailoring unit was provided in the campus. 50 students from the Government quota joined in February 2003. In the following years the institution grew steadily. MCI inspections took place every year. The final Inspection for MCI took place in 2008. This was at the time of the III professional examination part II of the first batch .Recognition of the govt of India was given to the MBBS degree Kerala University for students. This is our Lords? own Medical College. His Grace was with us at each stage .He guided, provided and protected us through difficult days and made us all strive hard as a group; making us understand that we are only different parts of the same body and we have only one head i.e. Jesus Christ. We thank Him for this eternal grace. The institution thanks each and everyone who were involved in creating a Medical college out of near nothing.