The history of Maulana Azad Medical College can be traced to 1936, when India was under British rule. During that time, Indian Medical Service was being heavily manned by the British. In 1940, Martin Melvin Curickshank of the Indian Medical Service (IMS) was appointed Medical Superintendent of Irwin Hospital and Chief Medical Officer of New Delhi. He was appointed specifically to establish a medical college complex near Ramlila Maidan. But before his plans could come to fruition, the Second World War started in 1939 and the plan of a new medical college had to be dropped.