Saovabha Institute
The Saovabha Institute (Thai สถานเสาวภา สภากาชาดไทย , RTGS : Sathan Saowapha Sapha Kachat Thai, "Saovabha Institute of the Thai Red Cross Society", English Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute , formerly Pasteur Institute Bangkok) is an institute for antisera and vaccines at the headquarters of Thai Red Cross Society in Bangkok district Pathum Wan . It is named after Queen Saovabha Phongsri (1864-1919), one of the main wives of King Rama V (Chulalongkorn). Attached is a snake farm for breeding poisonous snakes and developing the appropriate antidotes.
history
The institute was founded in 1912 during the reign of King Rama VI. (Vajiravudh) in order to carry out rabies vaccinations. The occasion was the death of a member of the royal family, Princess Banlusirisarn Diskul, of untreated rabies in 1911. The institution was initially called the Pasteur Institute in honor of Louis Pasteur , who discovered the first vaccine against rabies. It was initially subordinate to the Thai Ministry of the Interior . The king made it subject to the Thai Red Cross Society in 1917, which on April 8, 1920 was recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross as the National Red Cross Society . In May of the same year, Rama VI donated. the current building of the institute and gave it the name of his previously deceased mother, Queen Saovabha. It is located on Henri-Dunant-Strasse, which is named after the founder of the International Red Cross Movement.
Snake farm
The snake farm affiliated to the Saovabha Institute was opened on November 22, 1923 by the President of the Thai Red Cross, Queen Savang Vadhana (1862–1955), the sister of Saovabha and other principal wife of Ramas V, and was the second such facility worldwide at the time.
The snake farm covers an area of around 600 m² , has two outdoor enclosures and several wire enclosures. There are also exhibitions and lectures for visitors, followed by a demonstration of selected venomous snakes.
The 50 or so poisonous snake species in Thailand, which are kept for the development of antisera , are shown. The development of the antisera of the various snake venom takes place with the help of horses, which are injected with the snake venom in low doses for days and become immune over time. The antidote produced from the blood of the horses is distributed to hospitals across the country so that it can be used in an emergency after snake bites.
Individual evidence
- ↑ History of the Health Care Siam ( Memento of July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
Web links
Coordinates: 13 ° 43 '56.3 " N , 100 ° 31' 57.7" E