The Stanley Medical College and Hospital to day stand as one of the earliest and pioneering center for Excellence in India in the field of Medicine. The quality and success emanating from the hundreds of stanleans in India and abroad is a true testimony to the teaching of their Alma Mater.

The seed for this institution was sown as early as 1740. The East India Company first created the Medical Department for Training Assistants and native doctors. The first batch of this school consisted of eleven ‘Natives’and eleven ‘Eurasians’ the ‘dressers’ and ‘Apothecaries’.

The Stanley Hospital now stands on the old site of ‘Monegar Choultry established in 1782. It was a period of great famine and the Cholutry was established to take care of the suffering poor. Thus, the legendary ‘Kanji thotti’ was built to distribute ameliorative dobs and alms. Due to the untiring effort of an Assistant Surgeon John Under Wood, the Government amalgamated the Monegar Choultry and its Leper Asylum with his private hospital called the ‘Native infirmary in 1809. In 1880 a well known Philanthropist, Raja Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar, endowed a lying in Hospital’ and a ‘dispensary’ in the premises of the ‘Native infirmary’.

With the establishment of the University of Madras in 1836 the degree course of M.B. & G.M., and LM. & S., was introduced in the Native infirmary as a separate Auxiliary Medical School.

In 1903, the Hospital Assistant course was introduced and the school was housed in the Old Bullet factory of the East India Company.

In 1911, the first batch of outgoing students were awarded their Diploma LMP (Licensed Medical Practitioner).

In 1933, the five years D.M. & S. (Diploma in Medicine and Surgery) course with detailed curriculum was inaugurated by His Excellency George Fredrick Stanley, the then Governor of Madras Presidency and the School was named after him as Stanley Medical School - with effect from 27.3.1934.

In 1938 the Medical School was upgraded as the Stanley Medical College, affiliated to the Madras University admitting 72 students to the MBBS course. Hon’ble T.S.S.Rajan, Minister for Public Health in the first Popular Ministry in the State Inaugurated the college on 2.7.1938.

In 1941 there were 3 Medical and Surgical units, and from 1964 onwards there are 7 Medical and 7 Surgical U2its.
The strength of the students for MBBS course was increased steadily from 72 in 1932 to 100 in 1950 and to 150 from 1963.

In 1964 Dr. Saravapalli Radhakrishnan the then President of India laid the foundation stone for the College Auditorium thanks to the endeavour of Stanleans who raised Rs. One lakh to mark the Silver Jubilee Celebration. The College is bestowed with the prestigious Stanley Hospital with a bed strength of 127.1 and an O.P. attendance of 4312 per day. One unique feature is its 8 storeyed Surgical complex which houses all Surgical Specialities under one roof. The Institute of Surgical Paediatrics housed in another 8 storeyed Block is a novel feature that Stanley is proud of. Stanley has a well developed Medical Imaging Department which backs up the Medical Profession with equipments including the wholebody Scanner. The department of Immunology with a full fledged Laboratory started functioning w.e.f. 2.4.1991.
Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Hand and Department of Plastic Surgery, is a feather in the cap of Stanley for its pioneering status in South East Asia. Stanley can also be proud of the new building with its state of the art equipments the department has acquired in the year 2003.

The Department of Surgical Gastro-enterology in the year 1999 expanded as Department of Surgical Gastro-enterology and Hepato- - Pancreatico Billiary Dieases and GI Bleed Center of Government Stanley Hospital and Stanley Medical College, This was a pilot project sponsored by the Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation and was awarded ISO 9002 for its international quality care and excellence. Stanley is also the first Government Medical College to perform Liver Transplantation in India, even two decades ago. The department is sanctioned, a new “Liver Transplantation Unit” by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 2005 as a center of excellence, adding one more feather to its cap and to Stanley.
Stanley Medical College has celebrated its Golden Jubilee in July 1991. Stanley has developed as an institution of international standards’ and continue to grow still further.