CMC’s tradition of sending out doctors to the rural areas is in keeping with its mission statement which states - "The primary concern of the Christian Medical College, Vellore is to develop through education and training, compassionate, professionally excellent, ethically sound individuals who will go out as servant-leaders of health teams and healing communities".

CMC's mission hospital network includes 200 hospitals run by various Indian church missions, spread across the country. These hospitals mostly exist in rural areas and in places where, but for their presence, the local people would be completely cut off from any access to affordable and reliable healthcare.

Trained personnel from CMC have been working in these hospitals since the early half of the 20th century, either for short - two to three years on average - or for longer periods. Their service is of crucial importance since rural India has a severe shortage of medical professionals, leading to appalling health indices. More than 70% of Indian doctors work in urban areas catering to less than 30% of our population. 

Many of those who stay for short durations are students who work in these places, as part of their obligatory rural service requirement, after completing their undergraduate or post-graduate training.

Those who decide to stay longer would like to use their training at CMC and the values they have imbibed here to serve the poor and marginalised. Some stay for decades and a few, for their entire lives. This involves a significant sacrifice on their part as they and their families have to put up with inadequate housing, power supply and roads, sub-standard education for their children and so on, in order to carry out their work and stay true to their vision.

The New Indian Express features Dr. C. Solomon who completed his MBBS and MD from CMC and currently works at the CSI Basel Mission Hospital in Gadag,  Karnataka. 

Read more on the website of the Missions Department