Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital had its beginnings as Makunda Leprosy Colony in 1950 on 1000 acres of land purchased by the Baptist Mid-Missions, USA. Soon after the hospital started, Dr. Gene Burrows , a MD from USA started the work in the leprosy colony in full earnest. Responding to the dire medical needs in the region, he soon converted it into a much needed general hospital. 

   He contributed to the work at Makunda for nearly 30 years and during his tenure, the hospital was well known for its work among the poor, tea-estates and leprosy patients. The hospital faced a major crisis in the early 1980s, when the Government of India asked all expatriate missionaries to leave the country and the hospital had to be closed for nearly ten years for lack of doctors committed to work in the region. 

   In 1992, Baptist Mid-Missions Trustees India,the body that oversaw the functioning of MCLGH handed the hospital over to Emmanuel Hospital Association,New Delhi and the hospital functions till date as a member of EHA, a fellowship of Christian institutions and individuals that exists to transform communities through caring, with a primary emphasis on the poor and the marginalized. The hospital is nestled in a remote and predominantly tribal region of Karimganj District, Assam and also strategically located at the junction of the three states of Assam, Tripura and Mizoram. 

   Karimganj district is one of the four Barak valley districts of Lower Assam which are one of the most impoverished districts in India. The rural communities of Lower Assam as well as the neighbouring states of Tripura and Mizoram are strife with poverty and illiteracy. Data from Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2012-13 reported that Assam had a Maternal mortality rate of 328 per 100,000 live births ( India 178 per 100,000 live births ) and an infant mortality rate of 54 per 1000 live births ( India 40 per 1000 live births ).