📝About Us

Dr Mary Verghese, our founder joined CMC as a medical student in the year 1946. During her internship on January 30th 1954, however a picnic with her fellow interns ended up with the car overturning which abruptly altered her plans.She suffered spinal cord injury leading to paraplegia. She was treated by Dr Paul Brand , the Head of Orthopedics and pioneer in leprosy rehabilitation. With the encouragement of Dr Brand , she became a surgeon, reconstructing hands of patients ravaged by leprosy. She was later sent for rehabilitation to Royal Perth Hospital under the care of Sir George Bedbrooke where she underwent intensive therapy and became independent from a wheel chair.She used to participate in rounds with her doctors and it was then that the idea came to her- Why not a rehab centre in India- I n Vellore? She found that there were no centres of rehabilitation in India.

She took up the challenge to pursue her studies under Dr Howard Rusk , Director of the Institute of Rehabilitation, New York, USA on a fellowship obtained through the World Rehabilitation fund. With diplomate of American Board of PMR, the highest post graduate qualification in the speciality,she returned to Vellore and started the department of PMR in the year 1963 and the department was inaugurated by President Dr S. Radhakrishnan. Soon the plans for a new Rehab Institute was made 7 km from the main hospital and was inaugurated on the 26th of November 1966 by the Union Health Minister Dr Sushila Nayyar.The building was a gift to the disabled in the country from an anonymous donor from Montreal who gave 1 lakh Canadian dollars. Thus was made possible the first Rehab Institute of its kind in the country for patients with severe disability.

Popularly known a s the wheel chair surgeon, she was a source of inspiration and strength to all who came to her for treatment. Dorothy Clarke Wilson wrote her inspirational story in the book “ Take my Hands”.For her pioneering work, the nation honoured her with the Padma Shri in 1972. She retired in 1976 . She concentrated to raise funds for wheel chairs and to build a home for the disabled with the Mary Verghese Trust. Her journey came to an end on December 17, 1986, but her vision continues. 50 years later we salute Dr Mary for her vision and faith and she gives us hope and a reason to believe.

Subsequently Dr Suranjan Bhattacharji took over the leadership of the department from 1986 to 2007 and paved the way for further expansion in service, education, research and outreach.

Due to the increasing no.of patients, due to more road traffic accidents, better resuscitation techniques, more chronic illnesses, the demand for beds was on the rise.The institution had a major expansion in the year 2005. The facility was dedicated by Mr Richard Smith from Friends of Vellore, UK along with Dr Joyce Ponnaiyya , former Director of CMC in the presence of Dr George Chandy. To mark the Golden Jubilee in 2016, anew floor was constructed and was inaugurated on the 25th of January 2019 .

The department has grown over the years to have 100 inpatients in Rehab Institute .In the main hospital is the Outpatient section and 40 inpatient beds. There are two medical units and both campuses have facilities for physiotherapy, occupational therapy , speech therapy as well as a Prosthetic and Orthotic unit. The Rehab Institute also has a Gait Lab, a community rehab unit, vocational rehab unit and a spinal cord regeneration lab. 900 patients are admitted and 21000 patients are seen in the OPD annually. Patients requiring acute care are admitted in the hospital, and they are transferred for rehabilitation to Rehab Institute when medically stable. Patients seen include those with Spinal cord injury, Brain injury, Stroke, cerebral palsy and amputations and the average length of stay is 2-3 months.