N Bengal to get Model Rural Health Research Unit

DARJEELING: The Governor of West Bengal has given assent to setting up of a Model Rural Health Research Unit (MRHRU) at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.

A memorandum from the Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of West Bengal to the Principal, NBMCH stated that the Governor had given a nod to the setting up of the MRHRU under the Department of Health Research (DHR) / Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The state-of-the-art MRHRU will function under the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED).

This research unit will further enhance research and treatment facilities of this region.

"Teams from ICMR and NICED will soon visit NBMCH. They will then brief us on the plans and what research facilities will be available at the MRHRU. It will definitely be a major boost to health care facilities of this region," stated Dr. Sanjay Mallick, Superintendent, NBMCH.

The NBMCH already boasts of many advanced facilities including a Virus Research and Diagonistic Labroratory (VRDL) which had taken up the pivotal role in COVID-19 outbreaks. There are researches undertaken by the Doctors and teachers at NBMCH.

However there has been a long standing demand of an advanced facility to study diseases and outbreaks, sometimes specific to this region. Accordingly the NBMCH had put up a proposal for the MRHRU on August 24, 2022.

NBMCH will be allotting a piece of land where a new construction will be undertaken for the MRHRU.

Around Rs. 1.97 crore has been allotted for this project. Manpower, logistics, machinery and instruments will be provided by ICMR.

Research will be conducted on diseases and outbreaks of this region including Typhoid, Scrub Typhus, Dengue, Kala Jar, Malaria.

The research facility will have an important role in event of unknown disease outbreaks. In the past also there have been such outbreaks in the region. Way back in 2021, there was a mysterious fever outbreak that had claimed many lives, triggering panic. It was then named the "Siliguri fever."