More than 6 cr crore doses sent to 76 countries

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21

More than six crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been sent to 76 nations, while 4.5 crore doses have been administered to Indian citizens, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan said today.

Speaking on the sidelines of inaugurating two technical centres for promoting research and entrepreneurship in the field of life sciences and intelligent sensors that have been set up at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) and the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) here, Dr Vardhan called upon the scientific community to use its experience of combating the Covid-91 pandemic for any unforeseen challenges that the future may throw up.

Stating that science had the potential to solve many longstanding issues which may belong to any sector, he said a people-centric approach was required and whatever scientists did in their labs should have a strong connect with the people for meeting future needs.

He said the government stood rock solid behind anyone who had a bright idea and wanted to convert it into an entrepreneurship, discover or develop something new that could solve some of the long-standing problems, alleviate their sufferings and make their lives better.

He added that a special fund of over Rs900 crore had been set up to help the industry expedite research for the Covid-19 vaccine.

At IMTECH, a Bio-Innovation Centre has come up, which would be a hub for life sciences and biotechnology startups and MSMEs from all over the country, thereby boosting entrepreneurship in the field of life sciences.

A Centre of Excellence for Intelligent Sensors and Systems has been established at CSIO, which will house the development of multi-sensor systems based on seismic, acoustic and infrared for perimeter monitoring and strategic applications using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The minister was briefed about the ongoing research projects and allied activities at the respective institutes by Dr Sanjeev Khosla, Director, IMTECH, and Prof SA Ramakrishna, Director, CSIO.

During his separate visits to these institutes, Dr Vardhan went around the laboratories and facilities, and also interacted with scientists and staff there. He stressed the need for promoting the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

He also took stock of projects related to the mitigation of the pandemic and technologies developed in this regard at these two institutes. IMTECH was one of the first labs to commence Covid-19 testing in the region and has augmented its efforts through work on air sampling, sewage surveillance and genome sequencing of the SARS-COV-2 virus strain.

CSIO had also developed some equipment to combat the virus spread such as viral load testing unit electrostatic sanitisation sprayers, contactless sanitisers, ultraviolet chambers, eye-protectors, ventilators and foot-operated taps. These were displayed on the occasion.

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