Mysore Medical College is one of the oldest and most reputed medical colleges in India. When started in 1924 by Sri Krishnarajendra Wodeyar, it was the first in Karnataka and the seventh in India. Today its name and fame has spread beyond any imaginable boundaries and its alumni have contributed to alleviating human suffering all over the world.

Admissions to undergraduate courses can be gained through the CET (Common Entrance Test) conducted by the Government of Karnataka or through the All India Entrance Examination.

History

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 providing 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 students from the Mysore State, 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.

The 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.

Construction

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 bed 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 in 1939. 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 the Burns Ward.