Rs 95L microscope kept locked at Civil

The Cryo Em, an electron microscopeworth Rs 95 lakh that can study Ebola and other highly pathogenic viruses, isgathering dust in a locked laboratory

The most advanced electron microscope that can study Ebola and mutated viruses has been put under lock and key at the E-1 ward on the ground floor of Civil Hospital.

The microscope was bought from the Rs 95 lakh grant given by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel from the Pradhanmantri Swasthya Yojana budget. The microscope which is also called `Cryo-EM' was inaugurated on December 6, 2014, but has never been used.“Nobody works on the microscope.We have not seen anyone using it in the past few months,“ said a nurse working in the ward E-1, the main laboratory of the civil hospital. The correspondent visited the ward five times but always found the room where it is kept, closed.

It is the most advanced form of microscope with the highest magnifying capacity. “The microscope was used to identify the Ebola virus. It can also detect mutation which helps in early diagnosis of deadly diseases. It has wide usage in structural evaluations in field of pathology and microbiology,“ said Dr K Muraleedharan, president of Electron Microscope Society of India.

Dr MM Prabhakar, medical superintendent, said, “I have limited knowledge about the microscope as it is mainly handled by the pathology department of BJ Medical College.“

Dr Hansa Goswami, vice dean of the medical college and the head of pathology said, “It was given by the CM for academic purposes but can also be used for diagnosis.“

Asked how many people have used it, she said, “It was given to the research laboratory of Civil Hospital. Since research is still on, it is impossible to give exact details of how many people are using it.“

On one hand the microscope is lying unused and on the other patients with deadly diseases have to wait for several days before labs diagnose the same and hand over medical reports.

“Patients have to wait for days to get a report of the diagnosis. Many a time we get severe patients with deadly diseases. The microscope can help in early detection of the same and help patients from losing out on time,“ said a professor working at the college.

According to Dr Muraleedharan there are over 1,000 such microscopes that help timely diagnosis of diseases among patients. The Cryo Em uses a beam of electrons to create an image of the speci men. It is capable of increasing the magnification which allows it to look at finer details of smaller objects.

The microscope is so powerful that it was used by scientists from World Health Organization (WHO) for identification of Ebola virus. There are two kinds of electron microscope-scanning and transmission. B J Medical College has a scanning electron microscope that produces images of a sample by scanning it with a focused beam of electrons.

Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and Kidney Hospital at Civil Hospital already have the microscope which they use on a daily basis for research, diagnosis and investigation.

“We mainly use it for crime related investigation. This microscope can be used to check molecular structure of chemical compound,“ said AV Hingrajia, a scientist from FSL.