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. The foundation stone was laid by Sir K.V.Reddy Naidu on 1 July 1936. The sanatorium was declared open by Sri.C.Rajagopalachari in 1939. It was renamed Ramalingam Tuberculosis sanatorium in 1952. In 1986 the government of Tamil Nadu attached a medical college with the sanatorium under the aegis of Institute of Road Transport. The college has 600 beds and started functioning in 1992. In 2004, doctors’ quarters were added. In 2008, a school of nursing has been started in the RTS Hospital premises. And in 2017, the strength of the Medical College was increased from 60 to 100 students intake.

In 2019, Government of Tamil Nadu took over the college and renamed it as Government IRT Perundurai Medical College. 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. During this transfer, out of the total 308.5 acre total land area, 208 acres has been transferred to the Health & Family welfare department and 0.99 acres to local Panchayat and another 3.9 acres for the formation of public road and the remaining 96.5acres of land has been retained by the Institute of Road Transport itself.