On the suggestion of Lord Willington (then Viceroy of India) in 1930, a district committee to combat tuberculosis was formed in Coimbatore and the decision was made to start a tuberculosis sanatorium in Perundurai near Erode.
In 1986, the government of Tamil Nadu attached a medical college with the sanatorium under the aegis of Institute of Road Transport.
[2] During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Tamil Nadu, the Government has subsequently renamed the college as Erode Medical College and notified this facility as a designated facility for treating COVID-19 cases in Erode district.
The Ramalingam Tuberculosis Sanatorium Hospital is the 200 bedded original facility with which the medical college was initially attached to.
It was initially a 550 Bedded Tertiary-care Hospital functioning in a G+2 Storeyed building, opened in 1994.
[citation needed] The college is functioning in a G+3 Storeyed Academic Block, opened in 1993.
The college also has separate blocks for Animal House, Mortuary and Post-mortem studies.
The School of Nursing attached to Erode Medical College was started in the year of 2008 with an annual intake of 20 students.