BHUBANESWAR: The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar is set to open an outpatient department (OPD) on its campus from Saturday to provide patient care and diagnostic services with specific focus on major public health concerns of the State.
The OPD will function twice a week initially and gradually be extended to five days. The unit will concentrate on rendering specialised diagnostic services and screening of people for filariasis, respiratory diseases, tuberculosis and haemoglobinopathies, which is a major cause of anaemia. It will also be used as the DOTS centre for treatment of TB patients as well as management of Lymphatic Filariasis (commonly known as elephantiasis or swollen limbs) using decompression and physical therapy.
The RMRC is currently running a bi-weekly OPD at the Capital Hospital here for providing patient care and diagnostic services along with conducting research in the above identified areas as well as viral diseases, hypertension, hepatitis and diabetes. More than 5,000 filariasis and 2,000 haemoglobinopathy patients have been treated at the centre. The centre has conducted valuable research in defining filariasis, genetic disorders and factors associated with hypertension, susceptibility of pregnant mothers to Rubella infections and Rota virus infection in under-five children.
“The necessity of a stand-alone facility at RMRC was felt to expand the areas of intervention to cover current emerging problems of non-communicable and other diseases. The new OPD will also act as the referral centre for viral disease diagnosis, either endemic or emerging and re-emerging infections. This will help in generating data on various health problems in the State by establishing a strong network with local and district-level health institutions,” Director Dr SK Kar said.
The ICMR-wing is also set to launch training programmes for skill upgradation of laboratory technicians working in the field. The courses - a two-week multi-skilled training programme and another two-week course on entomology - will be conducted both in lab and field conditions, Dr Kar added.