The Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, is an educational and research institution of an all-India character established and run by the minority Christian community. Its primary aim is to educate and train Christian men and women as health professionals, in the spirit of Jesus Christ, for the healing ministry of the Church in India. However, like many other Christian educational institutions, this college also offers educational facilities to young men and women of all backgrounds, irrespective of religion, caste, or community.

Through education at this college, the Christian Church seeks to make a significant contribution to the health standards of all communities in our nation, with special emphasis on healthcare in rural, underserved, and unreached areas of India.

Medical missionary work was started in Ludhiana in 1881 by the Greenfield sisters, Miss Martha Rose and Miss Kay Greenfield, who were evangelists and educationalists from Scotland. This pioneering medical work of the Greenfield sisters was the precursor to the medical training and healthcare service programs of the present Christian Medical College, Ludhiana.

The Greenfield sisters and their associates organized healthcare educational services, in which Dr. Edith Mary Brown joined them in 1893. In 1894, the North Indian School of Medicine for Christian Women was established by Dr. Edith Mary Brown and her colleagues with the objective of training Indian nationals—particularly women—to serve in the field of medical education and healthcare services, emphasizing the integration of training and healthcare delivery.

The period from 1894 to 1952 was an epoch-making era that witnessed landmark development from its beginning as a School of Medicine for Christian Women to the Women’s Christian Medical College, until 1952, when the name was changed to Christian Medical College to enable admission of both men and women students for the upgraded MBBS course, which commenced its first intake in 1953. The college was affiliated with Punjab University, Chandigarh. The medical school granted the LSMF diploma until 1952. Since the college was upgraded to MBBS in 1953, more than 2,000 candidates have graduated and are serving in different parts of India and the world.

The Christian Medical College is situated on a large campus not far from Ludhiana Railway Station, on both sides of Brown Road. The campus has residential quarters for staff, hostels for medical, nursing, and paramedical students—both men and women. The college maintains 775 hospital beds. Our national medical and paramedical teaching staff and other personnel come from nearly every state in India. The Governments of India and Punjab have continued their interest in and support for the work and development of the college and its hospital.

The Christian Medical College is recognized by the Medical Council of India. Since July 1999, the college has been affiliated with Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, Punjab. Ludhiana, one of the long-established cities of Punjab, has a population that has increased in recent years to around 2,000,000. It lies 300 km northwest of Delhi and less than 150 km from the border with Pakistan. Situated on the Grand Trunk Road running from the border to Delhi, it is also an important railway junction. Today, it is one of the fastest-growing small and medium industrial centers in India.