BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday urged his Cabinet colleague and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to set up one of the four proposed National Institutes of Virology (NIV) in Bhubaneswar.
In a letter to the Minister, Pradhan said Bhubaneswar has emerged as a prime centre of medical research and education in eastern India with the presence of world-class institutes such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre and ICAR- International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease (ICFMD).
“Owing to its strategic location and skilled manpower, Bhubaneswar is well-positioned to be considered as a location for one of the four proposed NIVs. The NIV Bhubaneswar will benefit from proximity to the above-mentioned R&D Centres of Excellence and leverage it for pushing collaborative research efforts,” the letter said.
The proposed institute can cater to the population of eastern, south-eastern and central states and will also be in line with the Purvodaya vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added.Congratulating Vardhan on being at the forefront of India’s successful fight against coronavirus and supply of vaccines to the world, Pradhan said Covid-19 pandemic may be the first of many such zoonotic diseases afflicting humanity but emergence of such viruses in future is quite likely.
In August last year, the Centre had given in-principle approval for setting up the second NIV centre for the north zone in Punjab. Last month, Pradhan had written to Vardhan requesting him to facilitate setting up a Centre of Excellence on marine biotechnology at ILS, Bhubaneswar.