Job Description

Job advertisement: Fellowship in
Clinical and Molecular Microbiology at Tata Medical Center, Kolkata
https://tmckolkata.com/in/

How can I apply? \xef\x82\xb7 Please apply online and/or email your applications by 20th May 2023 to: \xef\x82\xb7
https://tmckolkata.com/apps/hrd/careers.php \xef\x82\xb7
To may also email your application to: Mr. Suvasish Mukherjee, Head-Human Resources, Tata Medical Center, 14 MAR (EW), New Town, Kolkata \xe2\x80\x93 700160. West
Bengal, India. Email \xe2\x80\x93 suvashish.mukherjee@tmckolkata.com

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Clinical and Molecular Microbiology
Fellowship program at Tata Medical Center in Kolkata, India:

What is Clinical Microbiology and how is it different from laboratory based
diagnostic microbiology? \xef\x82\xb7 Clinical Microbiology includes:
o Diagnostic Microbiology
o Antimicrobial stewardship
o Hospital Infection Prevention and Control

What is Molecular Microbiology? \xef\x82\xb7 Laboratory Microbiology involves diagnosis of bacterial, viral, fungal and
parasitic infections using molecular techniques such as PCR, DNA sequencing
and others. \xef\x82\xb7 Because of the rapidity, high sensitivity and specificity of molecular
microbiology techniques it is has emerged as an important diagnostic tool in
medical microbiology

Who should apply for the Fellowship in Clinical and Molecular Microbiology? \xef\x82\xb7 Medical microbiologists who after post-graduation/ senior residency/ middle
level career would like to gain additional knowledge and skills in
antimicrobial stewardship, hospital infection control, diagnostic stewardship
and molecular techniques in medical microbiology \xef\x82\xb7 Essential qualifications: MBBS plus MD/DNB in Microbiology \xef\x82\xb7
A valid medical registration

What is the duration of this fellowship course? \xef\x82\xb7 The fellowship is for two years (24 months)

How is the fellow going to be evaluated during the course? \xef\x82\xb7 There is going to be two written and viva examinations at the end of each year \xef\x82\xb7
Progression from year 1 to year 2 will depend on: o Exam performance Page 1 of 6



o Performance during routine duty

What is the fellow expected to learn during the two years training? \xef\x82\xb7 Diagnostic stewardship \xef\x82\xb7
Antimicrobial stewardship \xef\x82\xb7
Infection Prevention and Control \xef\x82\xb7
Molecular techniques in Diagnostic Microbiology \xef\x82\xb7
Infections in bone-marrow transplant settings- diagnosis/ management \xef\x82\xb7
Communication skills \xef\x82\xb7
Management skills \xef\x82\xb7
Biosafety \xef\x82\xb7
Quality control and quality management systems

What are the facilities available for training? \xef\x82\xb7 Tata Medical Center is a 437 bed oncology hospital \xef\x82\xb7
It has state of the art diagnostic and clinical care facilities in Clinical Hematology, Medical Oncology, Pediatric Oncology, Surgical Oncology,
Radiation Oncology, Palliative Care, Nuclear Medicine, Radio-diagnosis,
Endoscopy services, Laboratory Sciences Services (Hematology, Cytogenetics,
Molecular Genetics, Histopathology, Biochemistry, Clinical Pathology, Flow
Cytometry, HLA typing) \xef\x82\xb7 Microbiology department has the following sections:
o Bacteriology
o Virology
o Serology
o Parasitology
o Mycology
o Mycobacteriology
o Environmental Microbiology \xef\x82\xb7 HIS (Hospital Information System) and LIS (Laboratory Information Systems)
developed by the Tata Consultancy Services

The fellow can learn about the following equipment/systems/ procedures in
Diagnostic Microbiology: \xef\x82\xb7 BactAlert system for automated blood culture and Mycobacterial culture \xef\x82\xb7
Vitek system for automated bacterial and yeast identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing \xef\x82\xb7
Type II A2 biosafety cabinets and laminar air flow cabinets \xef\x82\xb7
Broth Micro-dilution Testing system- for colistin and antifungal susceptibility \xef\x82\xb7
Direct Susceptibility test from positive blood cultures \xef\x82\xb7
LED fluorescence microscope and compound light microscope \xef\x82\xb7
Lyophilizer, minus 80C freezer and minus 20C freezer


Page 2 of 6




What facilities are there for Molecular Microbiology? \xef\x82\xb7 Automated nucleic acid extraction systems \xef\x82\xb7
Refrigerated centrifuge \xef\x82\xb7
Nanodrop, spectrophotometer, Qubit fluorometer, Tapestation, Ion Chef for sample preparation in next generation sequencing \xef\x82\xb7
End point PCR systems \xef\x82\xb7
Gel electrophoresis and gel documentation systems \xef\x82\xb7
Real-time PCR systems \xef\x82\xb7
Isothermal amplification system: Abbott ID Now \xef\x82\xb7
CBNAAT systems: Qiastat, BioFire, GeneXpert \xef\x82\xb7
Hybrid Capture Assay system \xef\x82\xb7
Digital Droplet PCR system \xef\x82\xb7
Sanger sequencer: ABI 3500 \xef\x82\xb7
Next generation sequencers: MiSeq (illumina), Ion Gene Studio S5, Ion Torrent PGM

How is Clinical Microbiology and Infection Prevention and Control training imparted
to fellows? \xef\x82\xb7 Ward rounds including patient assessment at bed side \xef\x82\xb7
Positive blood culture communication and clinical liaison \xef\x82\xb7
AMSP and diagnostic stewardship ward rounds in Intensive Care Unit \xef\x82\xb7
Patient referrals to Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

What are the common infectious diseases/ clinical syndromes encountered in this
training center? \xef\x82\xb7 Meningitis- encephalitis syndrome \xef\x82\xb7
Respiratory Tract infection \xef\x82\xb7
Blood stream infection \xef\x82\xb7
Gastro-intestinal infection \xef\x82\xb7
Intra-abdominal infection \xef\x82\xb7
Skin and soft tissue infection \xef\x82\xb7
Urinary Tract infection \xef\x82\xb7
Vector borne diseases: o Malaria
o Dengue \xef\x82\xb7 HIV/AIDS \xef\x82\xb7
Viral exanthems and enanthems \xef\x82\xb7
Viral hepatitis \xef\x82\xb7
Sepsis \xef\x82\xb7
Healthcare Associated Infections \xef\x82\xb7
Sexually Transmitted Diseases: including those due to Human Papulloma Virus infections \xef\x82\xb7
Infections associated with Bone Marrow Transplantation Page 3 of 6




What are the various types of molecular tests available in the Microbiology
department? \xef\x82\xb7 Bacteriology:
o mecA gene PCR and spa gene PCR
o van A gene PCR
o carbapenemase resistance gene PCR: NDM-1, OXA-48, KPC, OXA- 23/24/58, IMP, VIM
o BioFire (CSF, stool, pneumonia) and Qiastat panel (atypical pneumonia)
o 16S rRNA sequencing based ID of bacteria \xef\x82\xb7 Virology:
o Respiratory virus PCR (BioFire and Qiastat panel)
o CMV viral load
o HBV and HCV viral load
o HPV detection and genotyping
o BK/JC qualitative and quantitative PCR
o HSV and varicella zoster virus PCR \xef\x82\xb7 Parasitology:
o Cruptosporidium, Cyclospora, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia (BioFire panel) \xef\x82\xb7
Mycology: o Pneumocystis jirovecii PCR
o Aspergillus PCR
o Candida PCR
o Fungal identification by ITS gene sequencing \xef\x82\xb7 Mycobacteriology:
o GeneXpert PCR for MTB and rifampicin resistance
o Identification of atypical mycobacteria by 16S/rpoB gene sequencing

What other special tests are available in the lab? \xef\x82\xb7 Galactomannan antigen ELISA \xef\x82\xb7
Mannan antigen ELISA


What aspects of Infection Prevention and Control training opportunities are there in
this fellowship program? \xef\x82\xb7 Water quality monitoring using TDS meter, digital chlorine meter,
microbiology by membrane filtration technology \xef\x82\xb7 Air quality monitoring using air particle counter and settle plate method \xef\x82\xb7
Healthcare associated infection surveillance \xef\x82\xb7
Hospital Infection Control Committee and team meetings \xef\x82\xb7
Working with nursing department and infection control nurses \xef\x82\xb7
Working closely with Occupational health (staff health) services \xef\x82\xb7
Infection Prevention and Control with the following support services: o Laundry Page 4 of 6



o Central Sterile Supply Department
o Housekeeping
o Engineering
o Food and Beverages
o Security
o Pharmacy
o Nutrition
o Physiotherapy

Who are the trainers in the Clinical and Molecular Microbiology Fellowship
program? \xef\x82\xb7 Clinical Microbiologists:
o Dr. Gaurav Goel: MD, DNB, MNAMS \xef\x82\xa7 Email: gaurav.goel@tmckolkata.com
o Dr. Sanjay Bhattacharya, MD, DNB, DipRCPath, FRCPath, CCT (UK) \xef\x82\xa7 Email: sanjay.bhattacharya@tmckolkata.com \xef\x82\xb7
Infectious Disease Physician: o Dr. Soumyadip Chatterji, MD, DM (Infectious Diseases) \xef\x82\xa7
Email: soumyadip.chatterji@tmckolkata.com

What are the working hours? \xef\x82\xb7 Monday to Friday: 09 AM to 0530 PM \xef\x82\xb7
Saturday: 09 AM to 0230 PM \xef\x82\xb7
Educational/ training sessions start around 8 AM to specified days of the week \xef\x82\xb7
Out of hours duty, Holiday duty and Sunday duties are divided between existing fellows (total three)

What the regular training programs? \xef\x82\xb7 Monday 8 \xe2\x80\x93 9 AM: TALES (Tata Lecture Series) \xef\x82\xb7
Tuesday 8 -9 AM: BMT case discussion \xef\x82\xb7
Wednesday 0830- 0930 AM: Journal Club \xef\x82\xb7
Friday 0830- 0930 AM: Microbiology Department teaching \xef\x82\xb7
Last Saturday of the month: 0830- 0930 AM: Morbidity and mortality review meeting

What is the daily activity list for the fellow? \xef\x82\xb7 Microscopy: Gram stain, ZN stain, KOH wet mount, CFW wet mount, urine and
stool microscopy \xef\x82\xb7 Bacteriology and Mycology: examination of culture plates \xef\x82\xb7
Communication of positive blood cultures and clinically important preliminary and final results \xef\x82\xb7
Laboratory bench round with Microbiology consultant \xef\x82\xb7
Participation in teaching training activity \xef\x82\xb7
Ward rounds for AMSP or diagnostic stewardship \xef\x82\xb7
Communication of Infection Control issues Page 5 of 6
\xef\x82\xb7


Notification of notifiable diseases \xef\x82\xb7
Quality control, validation and authorization of final laboratory results using LIS (Laboratory Information System) \xef\x82\xb7
Clinical documentation using HIS (Hospital Information System) \xef\x82\xb7
Teaching training DMLT and MSc students in Microbiology

What are the research and audit opportunities in this fellowship? \xef\x82\xb7 Fellows would be given one or more research topics which need to be
completed within the duration of the fellowship program \xef\x82\xb7 Fellows would be provided with guidance to publish their research in
national/ international journals and present them in scientific conferences \xef\x82\xb7 For list of research grants received and publications from the department of
Microbiology please refer to the departmental webpage in the institute
website https://tmckolkata.com/in/microbiology/

What are the remunerations and privileges for the fellowship program? \xef\x82\xb7 Salary: Year 1: INR Rs. 80,000 per month; Year 2: Rs. 83,000 per month \xef\x82\xb7
Performance bonus of one month salary at the successful completion of year \xef\x82\xb7
30 days of all-purpose paid leave \xef\x82\xb7
Medical benefits of Rs. 100,000 for hospitalization expenses of the candidate \xef\x82\xb7
Please note: there is no separate HRA (house rent allowance)

Is there any hospital accommodation/travel facility? \xef\x82\xb7 No> fellows have to make their own accommodation/travel arrangements \xef\x82\xb7
There are rentable flats available in nearby places \xef\x82\xb7
The hospital is well connected by public and private transport What will I get at the end of the fellowship program? \xef\x82\xb7
You will be given a certificate at the end of successful completion of the fellowship program provided:
o You have passed the examinations
o Completed at least 18 months of the 2 year course

Is the fellowship recognized by any university? \xef\x82\xb7 Currently the fellowship is not affiliated to any university \xef\x82\xb7
The fellowship is not going to be counted as a teaching experience in medical colleges \xef\x82\xb7
The idea of the fellowship is to provide post graduate training opportunities to doctors in the field of medical microbiology in those areas which are not
adequately covered in the current under- graduate or post-graduate
curriculum but are essential to the practice of medical microbiology in the
modern world \xef\x82\xb7 The fellowship is generally accepted as a job experience in private sector
hospitals and healthcare providers Page 6 of 6