By IANS,
Chennai : Central Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss Saturday defended the government’s decision to close India’s three prime vaccine production facilities and denied charges that the move would create shortage of vaccines in the country.
“India supplies 80 percent of the vaccinations to developing countries. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has told us that if India’s production is not at par with the good manufacturing practice of the WHO’s National Regulatory Authority (NRA) standards, it will be an embarrassment for the country,” the minister said.
“Senior WHO officials have told us, ‘you (India) supply world class vaccines to most of the developing world, but your children get substandard vaccines manufactured at your own (government) facilities’,” he said.
India exports vaccinations worth Rs.15 billion every year and medicines worth Rs.14 billion.
The minister said that “a world class vaccine park” would come up near Chengalpet, about 100 km south of Chennai.
One of the units being closed is the ISO 9002 certified BCG laboratory in Chennai that produced liquid Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Tuberculosis vaccines (BCG vaccine) and Tuberculins. The other two facilities being closed are the Pasteur Institute of India (Coonoor in Tamil Nadu) and the Central Research Institute (Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh).
The minister promised that there would be no retrenchment of nearly 900 workers of the facilities. All the three facilities are now being turned into central drug testing laboratories.
Ramadoss said that nearly 400 acres of land had been acquired for the Chengalpet facility. Of this about 100 acres will be for government facilities and another 100 acres will be for private plants. Two hundred acres will be for drug manufacturing units. The entire park would be a medical SEZ, he said.
“It would take two years at least to start manufacturing but it will be to WHO-prescribed standards,” the minister added.