When it comes to public sector units manufacturing vaccines, it is a case of Ramadoss proposes and Azad disposes.
When it comes to public sector units manufacturing vaccines, it is a case of Ramadoss proposes and Azad disposes. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has reversed the decision of his predecessor Anbumani Ramadoss to shut down three public sector manufacturing vaccines. He has gone a step further and injected crores of rupees to revive these units.
In a contest between UPA 1 and UPA 2, almost three years after they were shut down for not following Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) these units are back on track. The first such unit- the Central Research Institute (CRI) at Kasauli last week delivered 16.84 lakh doses of DPT vaccines to the mnistry of halth and family welfare for the universal immunisation programme (UIP) covering million of children across the country. The other two units- BCG Vaccine Laboratory at Guindy (Chennai) and Pasteur Institute of India at Conoor (TN) - are also on the revival path.
Even as the closure raised debates over the attempts to promote private manufacturers, government’s UIP suffered due to shortage of vaccines shortage. The licenses were revived in 2010 on the recommendations of Javid Chowdhury committee report that had described license suspension as incorrect, based on illegal procedure and a flawed appreciation of the issues.
With the political parties like the Left accusing government of promoting private sector in pharmaceuticals at the cost of public sector units, the new health minister took a stand to revive these units. This is a first major step of revival of public sector by the UPA government.
Revived with the cost of Rs49 crore, CRI Kasauli is expected to supply 30 lakh doses every month for UIP.
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