Mysore is the second largest city in the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore is famous for the festivities that take place during the Dasara festival when the city receives a large number of tourists. Until 1947, Mysore was the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore and was ruled by the Wodeyar dynasty, except for a 40-year era in the 18th century when Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan were the de facto rulers of the province. The Wodeyars were patrons of art and culture and contributed significantly to the cultural growth of the city, which has led to Mysore earning the sobriquet Cultural capital of Karnataka.
The foundation stone was laid in 1930 by Sri Krishnadevaraja Wodiyar and the main building was constructed by Boraiah Basavaiah & Sons, a famous contractor of Mysore. It was further expanded in 1940. The Krishnarajendra Hospital ( K R Hospital ) was constructed at a cost of Rs. 3,65,000/- and started as a 100 bedded Hospital with X-ray apparatus. In contrast, Cheluvamba hospital, earlier known as Vanivilas Hospital which was built in 1880 with 24 beds, was upgraded to a 200 bedded hospital in1939. It was further expanded in 1954 and the new OPD Block of OBG was built in 1997. New facilities have been continuously added on to the existing infrastructure, but the most impressive of all is the new multistoried OPD building with its ultra-modern air-conditioned ICCU which along with the medical wards on upper floors was added on to the K R Hospital complex in 1998. Other relatively new structures include Blood Bank and Burns Ward.
Sri Krishnadevaraja Wodiyar has been regarded as the founder of Mysore Medical College.
Since there were no medical institutions in the erstwhile state of Mysore a scheme for giving Medical education was started in 1881 under which carefully selected students were given scholarship and sent to places like Madras and Bombay to undergo training only to return and work as "Hospital Assistants". After the Madras Presidency expressed its inability to admit Mysore State students, the Government of Mysore sanctioned another scheme in April 1917 as a part of which a "Mysore Medical School" was started at Bangalore to train the then called "Sub Assistant Surgeons". Trainees had to undergo a course for 4 years to qualify as a Licensed Medical Practitioner (LMP). In 1924 the "Mysore Medical School" was upgraded and was now called the "Mysore Medical College". The college was affiliated to the University of Mysore and the trainees were now granted Medical Degrees. Mysore Medical College was the first medical college in the state of Mysore and only the seventh in the whole country at this time. At the request and insistence of Sri Krishnadevaraja Wodiyar the College was shifted from Bangalore to Mysore in 1930.
he Mysore Medical School continued functioning in Bangalore for a few years and was eventually shut down a couple of years after Bangalore Medical College came into existence in 1954.
Although the college started in 1924 it was only in 1948 that an alumni association was formed. However there was very little activity until the early nineties which saw the birth of MAA (Mysore Medical College Alumni Association) in Mysore and MMC-GANA (MMC Graduates Association of North Americas) in North America. Thanks to very generous contributions from MMC-GANA and also from MAA, the college was presented with an auditorium on its Platinum Jubilee. Besides housing a 800 seats auditorium, the complex also has two green rooms, two fully furnished guest rooms, a Millennium Lecture Hall for smaller gatherings and two large halls on the first floor. Both associations remain very active currently and have envisaged building a sports complex on the J K Grounds and also setting up a Corpus Fund to support the research and thesis work of undergraduates and postgraduates.
The Medical Council of India inspected the college during 1949 and accorded recognition to the MBBS degree awarded by University of Mysore, with retrospective effect from 1933. MBBS degree from Mysore Medical College is also recognised by General Medical Council of United Kingdom and South East Asian Medical Council. The name has figured in the W.H.O. directory of Medical Institutions. During 1997, the degree got recognition by the Irish Medical Council of Ireland also. IGNOU has recognised the institution as SDC (Skill Developing Centre) for conduct of PGDMCH Course.
Many alumni’s of this institution have occupied Chairs like Vice-chancellor, Director of Medical Education etc. The institution is bagging many awards, medals in academic activities at the University level, State & Inter state level.
The college is running both Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses in 14 different specialities. The annual intake of UG is 150. Six Paramedical courses are run. The average number of out patients seen in the three associated hospitals – (K.R. Hospital - 1330 beds, Cheluvamba - 420 beds, and P.K.T.B. & C.D. Hospital - 470 beds) is around 1900/day. On an average about 50-60 surgeries and more than 500 investigations are being performed everyday. The special clinics for Diabetes, Asthma are run on 2 days/a week.
In 2000, tele-medicine was introduced at our college. Computerization of various sectors like library, college office is also being done. With the help of generous donations from one of the alumnus namely Dr. Ramachandra N. Moorthy, a CD library was established during Dec. 2001 wherein both the staff and students have access for all the recent developments in the field of medical education.
The library is too housed in a separate spacious building. The total number of books in the Library is around 29000. Nearly 79 Foreign and 26 Indian journals of various medical specialities are available. In addition, to make the students aware of advanced technology, CD-ROM, internet facilities and Multimedia projector are made available. Video libraries with more than 300 medical educative video cassettes are available in the library.
The institute has 4 separate Hostels - UG men and women, PG men and women. All the hostels are provided with solar water heater and cooking gas facility. Several workshops (C.M.E.s), seminars, guest lectures and symposiums are being organised by this college with the aim of improving the academic standards of the faculty and students.
The Government, subsequently, to streamline the recruitment process, accorded Autonomous state to the institute and renamed the college as “Mysore Medical College & Research Institute” in the month of January 2007.
World Health Organization - www.who.int
Centre for Disease Control - www.cdc.gov
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare-Government of India – www.mohfw.nic.in