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| Year : 2011 | Volume
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| Issue : 1 | Page : 234 |
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| Comment on: "Clinical microbiology: Should microbiology be a clinical or a laboratory speciality?" |
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D Raghunath
Sir Dorabji Tata Centre for Research in Tropical Diseases Innovation Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Click here for correspondence address and email
| Date of Web Publication | 7-Mar-2011 |
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How to cite this article:
Raghunath D. Comment on: "Clinical microbiology: Should microbiology be a clinical or a laboratory speciality?". Indian J Pathol Microbiol 2011;54:234 |
How to cite this URL:
Raghunath D. Comment on: "Clinical microbiology: Should microbiology be a clinical or a laboratory speciality?". Indian J Pathol Microbiol [serial online] 2011 [cited 2022 May 19];54:234. Available from: https://www.ijpmonline.org/text.asp?2011/54/1/234/77414 |
Sir,
The review article, "Clinical microbiology: Should microbiology be a clinical or a laboratory speciality?" by Sanjay Bhattacharya [1] is timely. It is gratifying to note that the scope of medical microbiology in the UK remains relevant in the patient care. Those of us who are trained in that environment have consistently felt that microbiology with a clinical bias is the way forward. In fact, it was this feeling that resulted in the establishment of Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists in 1974. The parallel system in the USA has a clinical discipline of Infectious Diseases which aims at training internists. In both the systems, the laboratory bench is manned by staff, who keeps abreast of the technological advances leaving the medical staff free to perform as described in the article. This is not envisaged in the departmental authorization in India. In addition, the speciality of microbiology splintered off from Pathology in the 1970s and has remained a paraclinical speciality that is not "supposed" to be clinically active. The Medical Council of India defined the boundaries between the three groups of subjects (pre-, para-, and clinical) is so rigid that when the qualification criteria for D.M. Infectious Diseases was considered, M.D.'s in clinical subjects were eligible while the qualification of M.D. in Microbiology was not eligible!
It is only lately that clinicians have started appreciating the value of infectious disease consultations. Hopefully, the burgeoning problems in treating infections will drive the demand. Some aspects have been dealt with by the author. [2] The present review points to a way forward which the author hopes will become a standard practice.
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| 1. | Bhattacharya S. Clinical microbiology: Should microbiology be a clinical or a laboratory speciality? Indian J Pathol Microbiol 2010;53:217-21. 
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| 2. | Raghunath D. National antibiotic resistance surveillance and control. Indian J Med Microbiol 2010;28:189-90.
[PUBMED] |
Correspondence Address:
D Raghunath
Sir Dorabji Tata Centre for Research in Tropical Diseases Innovation Centre, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore - 560 012, Karnataka
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0377-4929.77414
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