Why would a thriving religious order, renowned for running hospitals across India, gift them to others? The Medical Mission Sisters (MMS), founded in 1925 by Austrian doctor Anna Dengel, have spent a century healing India’s sick and poor.
Yet, in a radical shift, they moved from institution-based care to alternative therapies, reflecting a mission that adapts to a wounded world’s changing needs.
A Vision Born in Crisis
The MMS story begins in Rawalpindi, then northern India (now Pakistan), in the early 1920s. Anna Dengel, a laywoman doctor, served at St. Catherine’s Hospital, founded by Dr. Agnes McLaren. She saw Muslim women and infants die, barred from male doctors’ care due to cultural norms. “I can only do so much alone,” Anna lamented, her heart breaking for those beyond her reach.
Dr Lyons, Sr M Laetitia, Sr Agnes Marie, Washington 1925
By 1924, she left for the United States, determined to form a religious order of women trained to heal. In 1925, with two doctors and two nurses, the MMS was born in Washington, DC. A year later, Dr. Joanna Lyons, a founding member, resumed Anna’s work in Rawalpindi.
Overcoming Barriers
The MMS faced early hurdles. Medieval Church law forbade religious sisters from practicing medicine fully, barring them from surgery or obstetrics.
Anna’s group started as a “pious society” with private vows, persistently lobbying Rome. In 1936, the Vatican’s Constans ac Sedula granted missionary sisters the right to study and practice medicine, transforming the MMS into a religious congregation. This victory freed other sisterhoods, amplifying women’s roles in medical missions.
Shelters of Compassion
From the late 1930s, the MMS built a network of Holy Family Hospitals across India. In 1939, Patna’s Holy Family Hospital opened, moving to Kurji by 1958.
Others followed: Mandar, Jharkhand (1947); Bharananganam, Kerala (1948); Mussoorie (1950); New Delhi (1955); and more in Mumbai and Koderma. These hospitals delivered babies, performed surgeries, and trained nurses, serving thousands, especially women and the poor. The sisters’ kindness worked miracles, and their trainees became India’s medical leaders.
In 1948, they trained Mother Teresa, and some of her companions, thus aiding her Missionaries of Charity. Their vision also supported Dr. Sr. Mary Glowery’s dream of an Indian Catholic Medical College, realized as St. John’s Medical College.
Listening to New Needs
The 1967 Renewal Chapter, inspired by Vatican II, prompted a soul-searching review. The MMS recognized needs beyond hospital walls.
By the 1970s, they shifted to preventive care and health education, reaching villages in Nagaland, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, and beyond. In 1969, they founded the Bihar Voluntary Health Association, which grew into the Voluntary Health Association of India, empowering communities to claim health as a right.
This marked a pivot from healing individuals to uplifting entire communities, rooted in Anna’s belief: “Missionary life is active but based on real spirituality.”
A Bold Shift from Institutions
In the 1980s, a profound “soul-searching exercise” reshaped their mission. The health sector had become a business, with corporate hospitals and diagnostic centers exploiting the poor.
The MMS questioned the relevance of their hospital-based model in this commercialized landscape.
Bravely, they gifted their Holy Family Hospitals to others: Mumbai’s to the Ursulines of Mary Immaculate, Delhi’s to the Archdiocese, Koderma’s to the Franciscan Clarists, and Kerala’s to local dioceses. In Jharkhand, they donated a hospital to start a tribal medical college.
In Patna, they partnered with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, a collaboration marking 25 years in April 2025.
This shift freed them to focus on alternative therapies, opening the Holistic Health Centre in Pune (1980) and Ayushya Centre in Changanassery, Kerala (1985), where they trained healers in herbal remedies and holistic care for body, mind, and spirit.
Healing Beyond the Physical
At the 1978 WHO Conference, the MMS embraced “Health for All by 2000.” Though the goal fell short, their work fuelled the People’s Health Movement (2000–2009), advocating health as a right.
Their holistic approach now spans social, psychological, and ecological healing, reflecting Anna’s call: “We must adapt ourselves to the needs.” In 2021, their Eco-healing and Wholeness Centre in Pune linked human and planetary wellness, a bold step forward.
A Centenary of Love
On September 28, 2024, the MMS celebrated their centenary at Anna Dengel House in Kerala, themed “healing in the heart of the wounded world.”
Globally, they advocate through UN accreditation (2000) and the Justice Coalition of Religious (2017). In India, ageing yet vibrant, they pass their mission to young sisters and collaborators. Serving in India, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with headquarters in London, they embody Anna’s words: “If you love, you want to give.” From Rawalpindi’s lanes to Kerala’s villages, their century of service proves that love, endlessly inventive, heals a wounded world.
FRANK KRISHNER IS AN INDEPENDANT COMMUNICATOR AND COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST
Why Give It All Away? The Medical Mission Sisters’ Century of Healing in India added by FRANK KRISHNER on
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Very well said . I am proud to be the part of the partnership group. May the healing mission of Christ be carried on in the coming years . God bless all .
Very inspiring and ground breaking.