It is an abandoned building in Narayanguda with flaking plaster, broken steps, scattered office furniture lying around and strays wandering about. The pediment has ‘1896 Laboratories’ written on it.
“We used to manufacture vaccines here until a few years ago. Now, this is a RT-PCR testing centre for COVID-19 which is functioning from the new block,” says a health official at the rear of the abandoned building known as Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM).
As vaccines have been flown to Hyderabad in a cold chain for delivery to frontline health workers, the IPM is not in the picture for the vaccination programme. “We currently run a vaccination programme in another building for rabies victims who come here from far off places,” says the health official.
The IPM in Narayanguda began as a ‘plague depot’ in 1870. The word depot was used as animals used to be tethered for use as vaccine reservoirs. According to scientific literature from that time, direct transfer of vaccinal matter from cow or buffalo to human subjects was the norm. In 1896, it became the central laboratory where vaccines were created and distributed. In 1910, it became a vaccine depot as the Nizam’s government introduced glycerinated vaccine lymph for the manufacture of smallpox vaccine.
The animal virus acquired from Mumbai was used to vaccinate calves in Amravati in Maharashtra. A part of the lymph produced was mixed with lanoline and then used on children. The lymph collected from these human subjects were then used to keep up vaccination from calf to calf, and these inoculated calves were taken from village to village.
The institute was at the forefront for smallpox vaccine before the disease was eradicated. The institute was a manufacturing centre for the anti-rabies vaccine that used tissue from neural tissue. Even during the fight against the HIV epidemic, the IPM was a key centre.
Published - January 12, 2021 11:10 pm IST
