The
Christian Medical Centre in Vellore, the hospital founded by Ida Scudder, has a
reputation that goes far and wide. Doctors who have worked at Vellore are found
around the world and the name is known widely.
The
story of how it all began is stark and well known. One night a Brahmin gentleman
knocked on the door and begged her to come and help his wife who was struggling
in childbirth. She did not have the skills, and asked him to get her doctor father
to attend, but the response was that a man could not possibly attend his wife. The
same night two other men came with the same request and the same result. The following
morning she was devastated to learn that all three women and their babies had
died. She resolved to do something to address the situation and went to the
United States to train as a doctor, returning to India, qualified, in 1900.
She
started with a tiny clinic, interestingly in the premises now occupied by the
Christian Counselling Centre, and we saw the room in which she began her work
when we visited there. It was just one bed through which medicines were
dispensed. Things moved on quickly. In 1902 she opened a forty-bed hospital in
Vellore and, alongside that, cared for the rural population by going out to the
villages in a bullock cart, with nurses and medicines. She knew that the real need
was to care for the women, and so she began training women in 1909 and founded
a school of nursing in 1918. It was not until 1947 that men were admitted to
the course and, even today, it is required that the majority of students be
women.
Our
tour of the hospital started in the history centre and with the story of Dr.
Ida, clearly a remarkable woman who died, in Vellore, aged 89, in 1960.
But
how amazing that from such beginnings the large and busy hospital that is today’s
Christian Medical Centre grew. It seemed chaotic, but it is clearly organised
chaos. We visited the labs, paediatrics, maternity, the wards, outpatients, the
private wing, the laundry, the chapel, amongst other things. We saw people
queuing to pay, but heard how the private segment subsidises what is offered to
those who can’t afford medical care. The fans and air-conditioning and private
or semi-private rooms offer a more comfortable environment, but it was emphasised
that the standard of medical care is the same, regardless of in which part of
the hospital the patient is situation. It was remarkable to see the numbers of
patients and staff and the large footprint of an extremely busy hospital. It
was an important reminder of a hugely beneficial element in the missionary
legacy.
Interestingly,
a trio of us had started that day worshipping in the chapel at Karigiri Hospital.
We were staying, as our main base, in the guestrooms belonging to the hospital
and situated in its grounds. We arrived early, though worried that we were
late, as we were not sure exactly when the service began. Around 7.30 am people
began to arrive, and at 7.40 a period of worship, singing, began. That continued
until 8 when the bus arrived with some of the congregation. The biggest part of
the congregation was a group of around a couple of dozen trainee nurses, all
female and all in white, who sat on mats on the floor in the central part of
the chapel, though there were chairs at the back which others used. In the gap between
the pre-service worship and the service, several of these young women came over
to greet us, making us feel very welcome. The service was led by the Chaplain
and most of the singing was in English, though prayers and other elements were
in Tamil. The address was brought by one of our number, Fiona, with a Tamil
summary by the Chaplain after she had spoken.
After
the service we spoke with the Director and the Chairman of the Board, both of whom
were present, the latter for a board meeting. The conversation with the Board
Chairman was interesting as he was very keen to express appreciation of the
care and identity for the Dalit community that had been brought by the
missionaries. He said that he saw that as an important expression of a theology
of liberation. I found that a fascinating and important insight. I have, in
many ways rightly, worked against a background of seeing the British Empire as
a damaging imposition on other cultures and peoples. There is no doubt that our
colonial past did a great deal of harm and we, with no right to do so, claimed ‘ownership’
of large parts of the globe as the world map was painted red. However, there is
another side, and it was moving to hearing it named so specifically and carefully
by one of our Indian hosts. I have no doubt that even the missionaries did things
that were not entirely good, but their contribution to health, education and
recognised the value of the marginalised, and probably a few other things, does
have a lot to commend it – and is a useful reminder that this twinning link is
about mutual support and learning.
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