Multi-Specialist Team accomplishes challenging procedure on neonate
Education
First batch of 100 MBBS students graduate
Research
Department of Haematology forays into Next Generation Sequencing
Expansion
Bricklaying ceremony for new Trauma Care Centre
Leadership
New Director for CMC Vellore
CMC’s first Indian Nursing Superintendent passes away
Outreach
Department of Community Health continues outreach work in tribal region
Milestones
Chittoor Campus celebrates first anniversary of operation theatre complex
Campus
Campus kid discovers new Indian species of jelly fish
Batch of 1957 coordinates with international music groups to host Ida Scudder Memorial Concert
Friday Balcony
Accolades & Accreditations
Royal College of Physicians recognises wide-ranging medical education and training approach of Department of Endocrinology
Nursing Services granted certification of Nursing Excellence by NABH
Quality Management Cell wins BMJ South Asian award 2017 for Quality Improvement Team
News magazine ‘The Week’ ranks CMC as third best hospital in the country
Skoch awards for improving care with technology, primary care innovation and more
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Multi-Specialist Team accomplishes challenging procedure on neonate
EXIT (Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment), a life-saving but technically challenging procedure performed on fetuses with airway obstruction, was performed by a skilled multidisciplinary team comprising various specialities on the baby of a woman who was referred to CMC’s labour room at 37 weeks of pregnancy. The baby had a neck mass that was obstructing the airway.
The aim of the procedure was to deliver the baby partially and keep the uteroplacental circulation going with the help of special techniques such as uterine relaxation and amnion infusion, so that the baby could continue getting oxygen from the mother while its airway was being secured.
The airway was secured by the coordinated efforts of anaesthetists, otolaryngologists and neonatologists, and took seven minutes, after which the baby was completely delivered.
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CMC’s first batch of 100 MBBS students graduate
CMC’s first batch of a hundred MBBS students graduated on the 13th of November, 2017. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Prof. P. J. Kurien, Hon’ble Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
Principal Dr. Anna Pulimood, in her charge to the graduates, congratulated them and challenged them to do what was right regardless of the cost. She reminded them of their responsibility to God, to the people of our country, to fellow colleagues, to the surrounding community and to the college.
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Department of Haematology forays into Next Generation Sequencing
The Department of Haematology, which has been at the forefront of research in blood related disorders, and MedGenome, leading genomics-based research and diagnostics company, came together to collaborate on research projects using the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform.
This initiative will help CMC Vellore to not only gain rich genomic insights but also enable better understanding of the disease at the molecular level and translation of insights into clinical practice. The facility was unveiled on the 30th of March, 2017.
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Bricklaying Ceremony for new Trauma Care Centre
The Bricklaying Ceremony for the new Trauma Care Centre - a first of its kind in the State - and 1500-bedded multispecialty hospital and teaching facility at Kannigapuram, was held on the 20th of January, 2017, a month after the turning of the sod.
The slabs with the handprints, and the bricks laid by the elders will, at the time of construction, become a permanent part of the structure of the new hospital.
Some of the features planned for the Centre include 24-hour on-site coverage by dedicated Trauma Teams; a 128-slice Full Body CT Scanner capable of producing high-definition images within a minute; a separate Cardiac Care Unit; and over 30 operating theatres including six in the Trauma Centre.
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New Director for CMC Vellore
Dr. Peter John Victor took over as the new Director of Christian Medical College Vellore on the 23rd of September, 2017. Dr. Peter, from CMC’s batch of 1982, was Professor & Head of the Medical Intensive Care Unit here before taking over the reins from Dr. Sunil Thomas Chandy who was director from 2012. Dr. Peter had earlier served as Associate Director for Finance.
In keeping with CMC’s philosophy of integrating the practice of medicine with prayer and faith, the newly appointed director, who represents the entire institution, was commissioned in a special service, as it is believed that they have been chosen by God for stewardship in this particular ministry.
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First Indian Nursing Superintendent passes away at 103
Ms. Anna Jacob, the first Indian Nursing Superintendent of CMC Vellore and one of the first trained nurses in the country, passed away on the 17th of November, 2017, at the ripe, old age of 103.
After her studies, she joined the Nursing Service at CMC as Acting Nursing Superintendent in 1949 and went on to become the first Indian Nursing Superintendent of the institution, serving in that capacity till 1974, when she retired after 38 years of service.
For eight years, she also served as president of the Trained Nurses’ Association of India, and has represented the country at various international meetings.
Working alongside the founder, Dr. Ida Scudder, she shouldered the responsibilities of the post of Nursing Superintendent during a time of rapid expansion and significant changes.
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Department of Community Health continues outreach work in tribal region
In 2017, three nurses educated through the Department of Community Health and Development’s (CHAD) scholarship programme were employed to work in Jawadhi, a remote hilly region in the Eastern Ghats.
The nurses make visits to villages in the area to improve clinical services and to conduct surveys. CHAD’s work last year enabled Koiloor village to become the first village in the hills with household toilets for all houses. Development work was also initiated in the Vallithathankottai village.
Medical services are provided to the region through mobile clinics that visit the villages five days a week. A base hospital has also been set up at Veerapanoor which functions six days a week.
Chittoor Campus celebrates first anniversary of operation theatre complex
The Chittoor Campus, in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh, celebrated the first anniversary of its operation theatre complex on 31st August, 2017. The campus has four state-of-the-art operation theatres, and more than 1600 surgeries have been performed during the last one year.
The patients on whom surgeries were performed include those from Chittoor district, the surrounding states (from where a large proportion of the patients come) as well as those from the neighbouring countries.
The surgeries involve several departments including General Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Orthopaedics, Orthopaedic Oncology, Spine, Dental Surgery, Endocrine Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and several other specialities.
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Campus kid discovers new Indian species of jelly fish
Ishaan Pichamuthu, nine-year old boy of a doctor-couple working in CMC and residing on campus, discovered a new Indian species of jelly fish while on holiday with this parents. The father-son duo spotted the specimens while boated, collected some of the one-centimetre wide creatures and brought them home.
Former director of the Zoological Survey of India K. Venkataraman confirmed that the jellyfish was the first of its kind discovered in India. His finding will be included in the Animal Discoveries records brought out by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) this year.
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Batch of 1957 coordinates with international music groups to host the Ida Scudder Memorial Concert
On the 16th of February, 2017, music lovers in Vellore were offered a rare treat when CMC’s MBBS Alumni Batch of 1957 presented the Ida Scudder Memorial Concert.
The concert featured the Moving Big Band, a 20-strong troupe, specialising in Swedish jazz and big band classics, the Bangalore School of Music choir singing popular melodies of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s and the Göteborgs Salongsorkester, one of Gothenburg’s oldest active orchestras.
Conducted by the effervescent Lennart Olsson, the Göteborgs Salongsorkester, a 24-piece ensemble, had an unusually varied repertoire which ranged from ragtime (Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer) to Broadway (Mary Poppins, by the Sherman brothers). However, the crowd pleaser was a jazz version of All about that Bass (Trainor and Kadish), which they happily repeated amidst requests from the audience for an encore.
Friday Balcony
Gone are the days when everyone in campus knew everyone else. (Some even knew, at least by sight, a monitor lizard or two.) The members of the resident community no longer knows, or knows but not enough about their neighbours; a reflection of the world at large.
This was an issue revisited during Consultation 2016 and there have been varied responses to address it. One such was the recently launched ‘Friday Balcony’, the first (loosely structured) social forum in the community aimed exclusively at facilitating more staff-staff and staff-student interaction and communication.
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Royal College of Physicians recognises wide-ranging medical education and training approach of
Department of Endocrinology
The Royal College of Physicians (London) presented to the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, the Medical Education and Training Award, which is a prestigious category in the range of its Excellence in Patient Care Awards 2017.
The award came in recognition of the department’s “multi-professional approach and use of blended learning with some really innovative approaches,” as observed by the panel of judges. This has earned the department the distinction of being the only medical team outside the United Kingdom to win in any of the categories of these awards this year.
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Nursing Services granted certification of Nursing Excellence by NABH
Nursing Services at CMC Vellore was granted the ‘Nursing Excellence’ certification by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH).
CMC Vellore is the largest healthcare institution with a nursing ‘manpower’ of over 2800, to achieve this honour. Obtaining this certification entailed meeting 48 standards with 216 objective elements covering seven chapters namely, Nursing Resource Management (NRM), Nursing Care of Patients (NCP), Management of Medication (MOM), Education, Communication and Guidance (ECG), Infection Control Practices (ICP), Empowerment and Governance (EG), and Nursing Quality Indicators.
Quality Management Cell wins BMJ South Asian award 2017 for Quality Improvement Team
The Quality Management team of CMC Vellore bagged the coveted Quality Improvement Team award of the BMJ Awards South Asia, which aims to honour individuals and teams across South Asian countries working towards improvement in the quality of healthcare services.
The award went to its hub and spoke model, which encourages the involvement of the Department Quality Managers (DQMs) of various units to take ownership of quality management in their individual areas, as opposed to central policing.
More than 2000 nominations from eight countries, for 10 categories, were invited. CMC was the only institution that had two finalists, the Quality Management Cell in the Quality Improvement Team category and the Distance Education Team for Excellence in the Medical Education category.
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News magazine ‘The Week’ ranks CMC as third best hospital in the country
‘The Week’ magazine, in its November issue featuring the top hospitals for the year 2017 as its cover story, ranked CMC Vellore as the third best in the country. The issue also rated CMC as the third best medical college, the top private hospital in the South Zone, and the third best research institute in the country.
Earlier in the year, both ‘Outlook’ and ‘India Today’ magazines had ranked CMC among the top three in their national rankings for best medical colleges.
In the magazine’s ranking of medical specialities, CMC is in the top ten for Paediatrics, Gynaecology, Pulmonology, Neurology, Gastroenterology, Diabetic Care, Cardiology, Orthopaedics and Oncology.
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Awards for Improving Care with Technology, Primary Care Innovation and more
The Christian Medical College, Vellore received ‘Order of Merit’ awards for five different programmes, one of which also won a Gold Award, at the Skoch Swasth Bharat Awards 2017, held in New Delhi on the 17th and 18th of March.
The Rural Unit for Health and Social Affairs and the Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dental and Oral Surgery, Neonatology and Obstetrics and Gynaecology received the awards under the categories of Preventive Healthcare, Customer Service Improvement, Primary Care Innovation, Improving Care with Technology and Patient Safety.