The Microbiology Department provides a comprehensive service for the diagnosis of infection and advice on investigation and treatment of infection. The laboratory offers an extensive range of procedures in the areas of Bacteriology, Serology and Infection Control.
The Department of Microbiology is one of the strengths of this Institute in the area of research and development. Academic staff members of the department provide professional consultation and diagnostic services to the hospital. The department has state-of-the-art equipments to perform microbiological investigations on more than 1500 ocular samples.
The department is well supported by research grants from CBM, and other agencies including Quintiles and Allergon (India), etc. It has active collaborations with other research institutes in India and abroad. The Department has obtained recognition from the Dr.M.G.R Medical University, Tamilnadu, to supervise research in Microbiology leading to the award of the Ph.D degree of the University.
The Department provides training and helps to prepare dissertations for postgraduate students of various colleges located in and around Tiruchirapalli. Last year eight postgraduate students underwent training here.Faculty members of the Department teach various aspects of medical, in particular ocular microbiology to paramedical undergraduates (B.Sc. Optometry) and medical postgraduates (D.O., DNB and M.S., Ophthalmology). Students are given maximum exposure to Laboratory functions including Microbioloy and Biochemistry.
This departmetn has processed about 100,000 clinical pathological investigations a year. It has been made mande for all the patients to undergo HIV-AIDS screening before admission for surgery.
The Microbiology and Biochemistry Laboratories are certified by the ACBI / CMC External Quality Assessment Scheme for best quality outcomes in diagnosis.
The programme has been running regularly since 1978. This is a voluntary participation scheme and all laboratories are encouraged to participate at a nominal charge. The organizers send one vial of Q.C. sample by post every month to all participants who are coded to disguise their identity. The participating laboratories analyze the parameters indicated in the accompanying report from and report back their result to Vellore within a stipulated time. All result sent by laboratories are statistically analyzed and the laboratories are given their score, the designated values along with the acceptable range of values of each analyte.