BHUBANESWAR: The much-awaited advanced molecular and diagnostic research centre was inaugurated at AIIMS Bhubaneswar by Noted medical mycologist and president of International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) Prof Arunaloke Chakrabarti on Friday.
Stating that the advanced laboratory will make available cutting-edge diagnostics, Prof Chakrabarti said doctors and paramedical staff can be imparted training for identification and treatment of fungal infections.”There are several deadly fungal infections, but the detection takes time due to lack of adequate diagnostic facilities. The lab will support hospitals across eastern India for diagnosis and management of fungal infections,” he said.
The advanced centre will help identify medical fungi while offering various serological, molecular, and antifungal susceptibility testing services for patients with different fungal infections besides control of fungal outbreaks.
It will also assist other medical institutes in the field of clinical mycology and surveillance by providing observership/hands-on laboratory training opportunities and communicating test results to national reference for policy formulation.
Executive director of AIIMS Prof Ashutosh Biswas said some of the recently detected fungal infections like mucor-mycosis and candida auris took lives due to delay in diagnosis. “There is lack of expertise in identifying and treating fungal infections. The advanced molecular and diagnostic research centre is expected to fill this gap. The lab will act as a referral centre for eastern India and play a crucial role in anti-fungal therapeutic drug monitoring,” he said.
The state-of-the-art mycology laboratory has been set up in the microbiology department at AIIMS at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore with funding support from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). As per ICMR recommendation, a multi-disciplinary team of nine faculty members comprising a mycologist, pathologist, physician, surgeon, intensivist, pharmacologist and haematologist will conduct research on fungal infections.