MICROBIOLOGY 

Introduction

The Microbiology Department in Andhra Medical College is situated in the building, Bhaskara Menon’s School of Pathology in memory of Dr. T.K. Bhaskara Menon, former Professor and Principal of Andhra Medical College. The Department of Microbiology was started in 1925 and the first Professor &HOD of Microbiology was Dr. Rao Bahadur C. Rama Murthy (1925-38) followed by Dr. N.G. Pandalai (1938-51) who also served as Principal of Andhra Medical College for several years and was the author of Textbook of Bacteriology. This Department was upgraded by Central Government into an institution under a director in 1956 and training facilities have been provided for candidates for M.D.  from all over India.

Late Dr. C.S. Bhaskaran, who was Professor of Microbiology during 1965-69 also held the post of Vice-Chancellor Dr. NTRUHS from 1994-97.

So far till date, the Department has produced 122 Postgraduates in M.D. The Department now caters to 250 undergraduate students and has an intake of 10 postgraduate students annually. A Prize in memory of Dr. C. Rama Murthy was introduced in 1937 for undergraduate students which is being awarded annually.

Department of microbiology is having the following service labs –

• Bacteriology (Aerobic & Anaerobic)
• Mycology
• Parasitology
• Serology
• Immunology
• SRL for HIV & VIRAL LOAD
• Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (Level – II) & RTPCR lab for COVID-19
• C&DST

 Important Land marks of the Department:

• The center for AIDS surveillance was started in 1986 by ICMR & was later functional as VCTC, VCCTC & at present as ICTC & SRL, catering to the three districts of North Coastal Andhra.
• The department is now providing technical assistance to State Intermediate Reference Laboratory, C&DST Lab under RNTCP program – MAY 2010 which caters for Line Probe assay for First line and Second line drugs and Liquid cultures for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
• It has Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory Grade-II under ICMR – 2014
• SARS COV2 (COVID – 19) Laboratory – April 2020
• Viral hepatitis Surveillance programme initiated in January 2021 and Control Programme in February 2020. 
• Enrolled in CMC – EQAS (External Quality Assistance Scheme) Programme for Bacteriology and serology from January 2022.

National Programmes in the Department of Microbiology:

1. Viral Research and Diagnosis Laboratory (VRDL)
2. National Rickettsial Surveillance Programme
3. National Programme on Surveillance of Viral Hepatitis (NPSVH)
4. National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme (NVHCP)
5. National Programme on AMR Containment- a) AMR Surveillance b) HAI Surveillance
6. HIV Testing Laboratory (SRL, ICTC, CD4, Viral Load)
7. STI- State Reference Centre
8. Infectious Disease Surveillance Programme
9. National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme

Publications:

The Department has published 48 research articles in various NMC indexed journals in the year 2023-24.

List of Teaching Faculty: