History:

The Doctors Section of the Christian Medical Association of India has an umbilical relationship with CMAI itself. With Medical Missionaries manning most of the Christian Hospitals at the turn on the 19th century there was a growing need of a platform where medical professionals could come together for fellowship and to discuss various diseases which were alien to the doctors trained in the West. Diseases like tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, typhoid, and cholera were found in abundance in Asia and specially in the Indian subcontinent. Thus, the Medical Missionary Association of India was formed in 1905 with Dr William Wanless as its first President. This was then renamed as the Christian Medical Association of India in 1926. The Doctors’ Section therefore was the first section of CMAI. The Christian Medical Journal of India gave the doctors a good opportunity to present their experiences and discuss their observations and treatment modalities.

Over the years with the changing health scenario in India the Doctors’ Section has moved in the direction of training in Non-Communicable Diseases, Trauma, HIV/AIDS, Disaster preparedness, Emergency Medical Response training and of course Covid. In collaboration with Tribhuwan University, Nepal several doctors were trained in General Practice to enable them to work optimally in remote mission hospitals. The Section also works on Policy engagement ensuring that the healthcare needs of the poor and the vulnerable are protected. 

The Doctors’ Section also works closely with International Christian Medical and Dental Association and also is an important partner with similar health agencies in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other surrounding nations.

The Doctors Section had previously focused on preparing hospitals for Disaster response and emergency medical response and trained teams of more than 50 institutions on hospital disaster preparedness and over 100s of health professionals on emergency medical response. The Section also works towards handholding member institutions while preparing for NABH accreditation.  

The current focus of the Section is to help existing medical leaders to understand how to manage a hospital, which is never taught during the medical education and to develop leaders of the future. 

Membership: 

There are 3 categories of Members:

• Full Members:Full membership shall be open to all Christians doctors who hold a recognized qualification registerable with the Medical Council of India or a qualification in Dentistry registerable with the Dental Council of India and acceptable to the Doctors Section, having completed a full-length course equivalent to MBBS/BDS.
• Associate Members:Associate Membership shall be open to all Christians who, while not qualifying for full membership, hold a recognized qualification registerable with a statutorily established council in India or abroad (eg Ayurveda, homeopathy, siddha) provided such discipline and course is also acceptable to the Section (including shortened course qualifications registerable with the Indian Medical or Dental Council). Such Associate Members shall be entitled to all privileges of the association including the right to the floor but no rights to vote or hold office.
• Student Member: Student membership is open to all Christian students who are studying for undergraduate courses which will lead to a qualification in medicine registerable with the Medical Council of Indiaor a qualification in Dentistry registerable with the Dental Council of India (up to internship period) and that are also accepted by the Doctors section as being eligible for full membership after graduation.

Core Functions: 

The primary function of the section is to facilitate fellowship and professional growth of the doctors who are CMAI members and to contribute to the overall objectives and goals of CMAI.  More specifically the functions are:

• To encourage and promote Christian fellowship amongst sectional members 
• To encourage higher standards of professional work with Christian principles.
• To promote knowledge and skills at the profession training level and continuing education programmes to ensure the development of manpower for the ministry of healing. In this capacity to organise workshops, consultancy services, publications of materials, etc which will help enhance work already being done and implementing further development.
• To participate with other sections of CMAI in matters of common interest.
• To establish a relationship when necessary and to be involved with national and international bodies, agencies and organizations dealing with related professional concerns.
• To encourage members to see their training and service as part of a Christian Vocation.
• To assist member Institutes and Churches in areas especially ofinterest to the sections so as to solve problems and encourage better health care.