The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Port Blair is one of the six Regional Centres of ICMR. The Centre was commenced in 1983 with the objectives of carrying out biomedical research on communicable and non-communicable diseases prevalent in Andaman and Nicobar Islands with a special emphasis on the health problems of the indigenous tribes and to develop technical manpower locally. In addition to usual activities, as part of the special roles in the national context, the centre also fulfills its obligations as the regional biomedical research Centre of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Therefore, several research programmes on communicable and non-communicable diseases that are important to the islands from public points of view are also being carried out. These include vector-borne diseases, diarrhoeal disease, cardiovascular and other chronic non-communicable diseases and nutrition.

• 1. Research and Development: Centre has conducted Community Based Surveys, Identifying Andaman Haemorrhagic Fever as leptospirosis, Identification of a New Serovar of Leptospira, and RCT on doxycycline prophylaxis. 2. Publications [more than 200]. 3. Ongoing Projects [11]. 4. Completed Projects [49]. 5. PhD Scholars (18 microbiology), Entomology (04), and Medical Microbiology (03). 6. Facilities: Facilities for the diagnosis of novel H1N1 influenza A; Cell culture, isolation and characterization of viruses; Biosafety level three (BSL3) facilities; and Virology Diagnostic Laboratory (Grade I). 7. Serum samples received for analysis [7649], reference strains supplied [25], Control sera supplied [21], and reference strains supplied to other countries [12]. 8. Diagnostic services available: Microscopic Agglutination Test, Antibody ELISA, Bacterial Culturing and PCR facility. 9. National and International roles: National Leptospirosis Reference Centre, WHO Collaborating Centre for Leptospirosis, and Nodal Centre for developing leptospirosis laboratory network in Southeast Asia. 10. Public impact: Post-tsunami relief in Car Nicobar, Assessment of impregnated bed net usage and its impact on malaria, Awareness Campaigns etc.