Inertia at one of Bengal?s premier medical research institutes has prompted director Jayashree Mitra to dash off a letter to all departmental heads at the School of Tropical Medicine. She has sought details of all research activities undertaken so far.

The move was, in all probability, triggered by the recent spate of criticism in the country of the dearth of quality research at this institute.

Only a few departments out of the 11 have submitted their research update reports.

None has voiced their concern over the step-motherly attitude of the state government towards this institute, once considered Calcutta?s answer to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in terms of medical research.

?It is unfortunate that only three departments have submitted their reports outlining the research activities. There may be problems galore, but medical research can never take a back-seat, not at least in the School of Tropical Medicine,? director Mitra said.

State health department mandarins have been informed about the move. According to insiders, preparations are underway to pitch for funds from different organisations, including the Indian Council of Medical Research.

This, at a time when individual departments in teaching hospitals, including SSKM, have bagged Indian Council of Medical Research projects.

The decision to take action was arrived at recently, when the director noticed that almost 50 per cent of the 150 beds in the institute were empty.

It was discovered that these seats were meant for research patients. Since not many were available, they were lying vacant.

Mandarins were shocked to notice that some of the key departments registered less than 100 patients per year. ?It was hard to believe that haematology, a key department, had registered around 83 patients last year,? said a senior officer of the institute.

?You have to provide good infrastructure for research, particularly if it has to be at the molecular level. Unfortunately, the state government has never tried to put the School of Tropical Medicine in the limelight, though serious efforts are on,? explains former director Amiya Hati.