The attention of Lady Hardinge(wife of Lord Hardinge) was drawn to the lack of facilities for imparting medical education to women in India. There is no any separate medical institution for women to train them as Doctors , with the result that only 89 female students in year 1984 were receiving medical education , of whom 78 were Christians and 9 Perisian's , all these women were studying in coeducation government colleges in madras, Bombay, Calcutta and Lahore.

Lady Hardinge made firm determination and promised to raise the sum of 15 lakhs of rupees with which to build at Delhi Medical College and Hospital for woman and a training school for nurses which similarly intended to meet the demand of trained nurses.
Draft schemes for constitution of college and management guidelines. Lady Hardinge medical school for women was drawn.

The college to be affiliated to one of the recognized University for India for the purpose of MBBS degree.

It was also decide that subject to the general control of the governors, the Lady Principal, with the assistance of an advisory council of the Lady Professor and the Lady medical Superintendent of hospital, to have full authority and responsibility for all matters i.e., teaching, internal economy, residential arrangements and discipline of the institution. This is showing that medical school is to be built for ladies and manage by ladies .

His Excellency Lord Hardinge added a new chapter to the history of Medical Education in India when he formally inaugurated the opening of this Medical College meant exclusively for women in the area so called the "Imperial Delhi Enclave" and with this, the hopes ;and aspirations of a great Lady became reality.

Through these 90 years the college has risen in stature and this grand old Lady status has stood like a guardian angel watching generations of young women pass through its portals as mature, confident and capable Professionals comparing with the best in the world.

The college, Hospital & hostel for students and residences for staff were built on an area of 60 acres which lay between the old and new cities of Delhi. In a bird's eye view of the Institution in a photograph published in 1918, the college is seen surrounded by wild vegetation's & shrubbery which extended over the area now known as Connaught Place which is of course the main shopping complex and centre of attraction, in the heart of Delhi. The lush green areas within the campus, makes one forget the hustle and bustle of city life outside which makes this complex a combination of convenience and serenity-the ideal location-so near and yet so far.
Dr. (Miss) Kate Platt was the first principal of the college. The number of annual admission was confined only to 16. The college was then affiliated to Punjab University. The students had to go to take up their examination on successful completion of their curriculum to King Edward Medical College, Lahore. Ever since, this institution has made spectacular strides in all directions. It was in the year 1950 that the institution was affiliated to University of Delhi.

Initially, approximately 14-16 students were enrolled every year from all over India. The annual report of 1918 mentions only 34 students on roll. The number of admissions were subsequently raised to 130 by 1970. In the beginning, the college was affiliated to Punjab University and students had to travel all the way to Lahore for their examination to compete with students of King Edward College of Lahore. Since 1950 it is affiliated to University of Delhi.

One of the latest additions to the complex is the magnificent architectural marvel- the Swaran Jayanti Sabhaghar a modern and well-equipped centrally air-conditioned auditorium with a capacity of 987 seats which was inaugurated on 9th August, 1988 by Hon. Mr. Motilal Vohra, the then Cabinet Minister, Min. Of Health & Family Welfare. This auditorium came into existence by the untiring efforts of Dr. Mrs. Kasturi. Aggarwal, the Principal at that time.

Among the other buildings in the complex is the new central library building which came into existence simultaneously with the auditorium and is a part and parcel of the auditorium building. It has the dubious distinction of one of the oldest medical libraries in India and has also a good collection of number of old journals in the bio-medical sciences. The Library has a collection of 50,000 volumes of Books, Journals and the Library is centrally air-conditioned.

The College has two attached Hospitals Smt Sucheta Kriplani. Hospital for Women and Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital. Ever since the inception of the institution 6038 Undergraduates,and 1,049 have qualified for Postgraduate Degree's and Diploma in various disciplines of Medicine, several of them occupy position of pride in India and abroad. A few of them have made laudable contributions in the fields of Medicine and glory of the Lady Hardinge Medical College. We are proud of them. The attached school of nursing is also completed 90 years into its platinum jubilee year in 1991. It was inaugurated by her Excellency Lady . The Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital, an institution attached to the Lady Hardinge Medical College, was built in 1956 from the proceeds of the properties donated by Shri. Raghubir Saran and his brother Shri. Raghunanddan Saran of New Delhi. The Hospital was named after Smt. Kalawati Saran, wife of the Late Shri Raghubir Saran. The initial electrical and electronic equipment was donated by Govt. of USSR, and the Dept. of Physical Medicine was originally developed by Visiting Specialist from the USSR. Lady Edwina Mountbatten formally opened this Hospital on March 17,1956. The department of Microbiology of Lady Hardinge Medical College is internationally acclaimed for its salmonella phage typing, and it is a W.H.O collaborating centre for reference and training in streptococcal diseases for South East Asia. It is also a Surveillance Center for AIDS. First ART center for children in the country was started in January 2007. Lady Hardinge Medical College is rated very high for post graduate training in obstetric gynaecology as well as pediatrics. College is rated among the top 5 medical institutions in the country.

In the beginning a seven-year course of instruction was provided- 2 years for the Intermediate Science Examination and 5 years for the MBBS degree . The two years instruction in science was stopped at the end of the 1937-38. This resulted in the reduction of the course period from 7 years to 5 years and now to 4 ½ years since July 1964 with 1 year compulsory Internship.
The efforts have been made in the past and present to train the students on male patients by posting them to General Hospitals in their 3rd, 4th and final years in Irwin Hospital Safdarjang Hospital, . Later Willingdon Hospital (Dr. R..M.L.Hospital was integrated with the Lady Hardinge Medical College in 1965 for the purposes of academic facilities and the same arrangement is continuing till date.

To start with only female Postgraduates were admitted. Since 1970 Male and Female postgraduates are enrolled. Lady Hardinge had a record of having lady principals, that too a Hardonian. But same legacy is not continuing in last decade.