Good news for patients. Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) is set to inaugurate its 150-bed Tropical Disease Research Centre and Hospital with all the latest diagnostic and management facilities.

“The hospital administration has sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, requesting Narendra Modi to inaugurate the facility, but the reply is still awaited,” said RMRIMS director Pradeep Das.

“According to our survey conducted a few years ago, tropical diseases account for 13 per cent of all diseases afflicting people in the state. Tropical disease is a big problem for this state. That is the reason we felt the need to start a dedicated centre for treatment of tropical diseases,” said Das.

He added: “At our Tropical Disease Research Centre and Hospital, treatment of all tropical diseases, which are rampant in the state, including kala-azar, tuberculosis and leprosy, would be available. We would also conduct research on the patients of these diseases. While the facility would have 100 beds in the first phase, 50 beds would be added in the next phase.”

He said the RMRIMS administration had decided not to engage its existing manpower in its Tropical Disease Research Centre and Hospital. “At present, we have 130 employees at RMRIMS but for our Tropical Disease Research Centre and Hospital, we would engage 120 new employees, both from the medical and the non-medical profession. The process of recruitment has been initiated,” said Das.

The director said: “We have got many projects from reputable organisations such as World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Commission among others. From WHO alone, we have eight projects — four on vector biology, two related to epidemiology, one related to clinical purpose and one for basic science-related research project.”

He added: “The research project of European Commission is related to developing a DNA vaccine for leishmania (kala-azar) patients. No vaccine is available for kala-azar in the world. Eight world organisations are working on this project and the first phase of the project has been completed in Germany and the second phase of the project would be conducted in Bihar. Soon we would conduct the clinical trial of this vaccine on a few people who have shown the initial symptoms of kala-azar. We are also helping the state improve the quality of DDT spray.”

“The new tool kit helps in quick detection of the kala-azar from the sputum of patients instead of their blood samples,” added Das.