Leprosy Field Research Unit

 house  Add category

This is the site of Dr.B.R.Chatterjee's Leprosy Field Research Unit. It was created from the ground up single-handedly by Dr.B.R.Chatterjee. At the begining it was funded by US Public Health money channeled through The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, then by The Leprosy Mission, UK. During that time this was The Leprosy Mission's only research establishment. Later it was funded for some years by The Indian Council Of Medical Research. Currently it is closed for lack of funds. Many fundamental discoveries on Leprosy has originated from this place. Dr.B.R.Chatterjee is one of the very few scientists who have successfully cultured the Leprosy bacteria in a test tube. His research results have been authenticated by many laboratories around the world. Dr.Chatterjee is a living proof of the fact that acknowledgement for success for Indian scientists takes a long time to come - if it comes at all. Had his research been carried out in The US, he might have got the Nobel Prize long ago. Dr.Chatterjee is 80 years old (young?) in the year 2009 and he is still carrying on with his research at a rural hospital with a small lab at a place called Ganiari near Bilaspur, Chattisgarh. The hospital at Ganiari is run by Jan Sasthya Sahyog (JSS).