This week on the Global Impact Thread, hosts Mimi and Kim interview Dr. Aletta Bell about her lifelong medical work in North India.  They discuss the unique opportunities that allowed her to become one of four women in her medical school graduating class of 60, and her Arabia experiences that revealed the need for women to provide medical care to Muslim women. You will hear about how she established a hospital in North India, passed leadership onto Indian Christians of the newly formed Emmanuel Hospital Association, began a pioneering work of Community Health and Development to reach the root causes of disease in North India, and inspired others to follow in her footsteps. 

Within the interview you will hear references to:  

Emmanuel Hospital Association https://eha-health.org/  

Vellore Christian Medical College https://www.cmch-vellore.edu/, and 

Dr. Ida Scudder’s Biography in Dr. Ida by Dorothy Clarke Wilson     

Dr. Aletta Bell, a Canadian, has devoted her life to medical work in North India.  One of four women in her medical class of sixty, she identified a healthcare gap for Muslim women. In 1964 she established a women and children’s hospital in rural North India, in an underserved Muslim population. Later she handed the hospital over to Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA), where she continued to serve in leadership roles. Now, in her 80’s, she is sharing her life stories, with a biography soon to be released. 

Other Reading: 

Listen to this podcast to more fully understand the health issues of women in “India: Public Health and Women’s Equality in the Church” https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/audio/global-impact-public-health-and-womens-equality-church

Read about other brave women doctors who overcame serious life obstacles to learn and serve others in “Our Heritage Part 4”: https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/article/mutuality-blog-magazine/our-heritage-part-4