24
REPORT ON THE WORKING OF THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
It is very essential therefore that the King Institute should be fully
equipped for the study, investigation and prevention of epidemics of this
n a t u r e .
The vaccine lymph prepared in the Institute has now been brought to,
a very high degree of potency, after prolonged research work carried out
under great difficulties. Yet, it cannot be said that even at present, the
process of manufacture is being carried out under bacteriologically ideal
conditions. The various existing defects have already been pointed. out
in the body of this report. The operating room and adjuncts should be as
carefully designed and equipped as the operating rooms and laboratories
of any of the modern hospitals. The newly designed vaccine block will
obviate these defects, and the writer of this report, from his practical
experience of several years in designing and equipping laboratories and
hospitals, can confidently say that the design meets all the latest require
-
ments. It is to be hoped that there will be no further delay in taking this
work in hand.
In the bacteriological department, the work of preparing stock and
autogenous vaccines is carried out in the same room where the microscopic
as well as the cultural examination of faeces is conducted. The staining
and examination of blood slides, the technique of widal diagnosis, the
test for Wassermann reaction, and the operations for the preparation of
high titre sera, are all carried out also in the same room. From a
bacteriological point of view it is extremely dangerous to crowd all these
sections into one room; serious contamination accidents are likely to
occur under such conditions, and it is hoped therefore that the scheme, put
forward for increasing the laboratory accommodation will be carried out as
early as possible.
In spite of these inconveniences and difficulties the staff of the
Institute has devoted, in addition to the large amount of the daily routine
work much time to original research, and interesting experiments are in
progress in connexion with relapsing fever, vaccinial immunity, viruses
o f v a c c i n i a , s ma l l p o x a n d a l a s t r i m, a n d t h e s i g n i f i c a n c e o f l a c t o s e
fermenters in water and other situations in relation to their bearing on
public health.
The Public Analyst has had to work under considerable difficulties
for a long time owing to want of equipment and suitable laboratory
accommodation.
The work of the Public Health section in looking after the protected
water-supplies for Municipalities, Jails and Railway stations was most
valuable and if the various recommendations made by the Institute as
regards these supplies were only carried out by the bodies concerned there
would be a great reduction of water-borne epidemics. The suggestion for
the inclusion of more railway stations for regular examination of their
water-supplies, should prove a very helpful measure in the matter of the
maintenance of public health, and the scheme for the provision of a
Travelling Inspectorate, of the greatest benefit to the whole Presidency.
In the matter of research work, the King Institute cannot be said to be
specially well-equipped. Unlike the other laboratories in India, it has no
special research workers on its staff, its laboratory accommodation is
insufficient and the reference library, inadequate; and if the premier
laboratory for Southern India is to be brought to the level of the high
standard of a Research Institute, it must be provided with a staff of expert
research workers in Entomology, Helminthology, and Protozoology, three
most important branches of preventive medicine, with suitable laboratory
accommodation and a complete library of literature for reference.
The King Institute has hitherto not only paid its way but brought
handsome profit to Government, and it is but right that Government
should help it now with the necessary funds for enlarging its share of