The two existing Apex
Institutes for viral investigations and research in the country are as follows:
- ICMR’s National
Institute of Virology at Pune, Maharashtra and its three field stations at
Bangalore (Karnataka), Gorakhpur (U.P.) and Alappuzha (Kerala)
- National Centre
for Diseases Control, Delhi under the Ministry of Health & Family
Welfare.
Besides, the following
ICMR Institutes also working on viruses:
1. Enterovirus Research
Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra
2. National Institute of
Cholera & Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, West Bengal
3. National AIDS Research
institute, Pune, Maharashtra
4. Virus Unit, Kolkata
5. Regional Medical
Research Centre at Dibrugarh, Bhubaneswar, Jabalpur and Port Blair.
Presently, there is no
proposal to set up full-fledged new Virology Institute in the country. However,
a scheme has been approved by the Government in 2013-14, for 12th
Plan namely, “Establishment of a Network of Laboratories for Managing
Epidemics and Natural Calamities” for establishment of 10 Regional Labs, 30
State Level Labs and 120 Medical College Level Labs in the country, in a phased
manner. The Regional Labs would be set up in the various Central Research
Institutes/upcoming AIIMS like Institutes in the country. The State Level
& Medical College Level Labs would be established in the Government Medical
Colleges of various States/UTs.
The scheme provides
for establishment of 1 State Level lab and 7 Medical College level labs in the
State of Gujarat.
Though
total allocation approved for scheme is Rs. 646.83 crores, no State/UT-wise
allocation of funds has been earmarked under the scheme, as the funding will
depend upon the approval/sanctioning of proposals and actual budgetary
allocations by the Government from to time to time.
32 new proposals
received during 2014-15 are at various stages of approval as per scheme
provisions. Based on the prescribed procedure of processing the proposals under
the scheme, the establishment of Viral Diagnostic Labs has been sanctioned in
the following Institutes/Medical Colleges during 2013-14:
Regional
Labs:
1. PGI
Chandigarh (UT)
2.
Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), ICMR, Dibrugarh (Assam)
State level Labs:
1. Indira Gandhi
Medical College, Shimla (HP)
2. Sher-i-Kashmir
Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar (J&K)
3. B.J. Medical
College, Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
4.
North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences
(NEIGRIMS), Shillong,
(Meghalaya)
Medical College Level
Labs:
1. Govt. Medical College,
Jammu (J&K)
2.
Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad (AP)
3. PGI,
Rohtak (Haryana)
4. Govt.
Medical College, Amritsar (Punjab)
5. Dr.
S.N. Medical College, Jodhpur (Rajasthan)
6. Indira
Gandhi Medical College, Nagpur (Maharashtra)
7. Patna Medical
College, Patna. (Bihar|)
8. M.P. Shah Medcial
College, Jamnagar (Gujarat)
Proposals have also been
approved in the following Institutions/Medical Colleges, subject to fulfilment
of various codal formalities under the scheme:
State level labs:
(1)
Guwahati
Medical College, Guwahati (Assam)
Medical
College Level Labs:
(1)
Sarojini
Naidu Medical College & Hospital, Agra( UP)
(2)
G.S.V.M.
Medical College, Kanpur (UP)
(3)
Uttar
Pradesh Rural Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Saifai, Etawah,(
UP)
(4)
Govt. Medical College, Thiruvanthapuram
(Kerala)
The Health Minister stated this in a written reply in the Lok
Sabha here today.
*****
MV/BK