Land transfer for North India's 1st disease control branch in Ambala district completed

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 13

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij today said that the first branch of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) of the North India would be established in Ambala and the process of land transfer had been completed.

New viruses will be detected at centre

• Many serious, new diseases and viruses will be investigated and their data analysed at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) branch of Ambala. Genome sequencing will be done to know the virus in the laboratory
• Apart from this, the lab will have tests for the Nipah virus, Zika virus, rabies, zoonotic disease, Covid, Omicron, Hepatitis, besides other serious viruses and all kinds of new tests. This centre will play an important role in the early detection and diagnosis of diseases

The State Health Department transferred 4 acres of the 11 marla land in Ambala Cantonment to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the NCDC branch and the construction work would be completed in three phases.

Today the registration of the land took place in the Ambala cantonment tehsil. A four-storeyed building for the branch of the NCDC will be constructed in the first phase at a cost of Rs 20 crore at Naggal in Ambala Cantonment, followed by a laboratory equipped with modern equipment in the second phase.

Earlier, the Municipal Council Ambala Sadar had transferred the land to the State Health Department for Rs 2.03 crore, after which the land has now been handed over to the Union Health Ministry.

Vij said many serious, new diseases and viruses would be investigated and their data would be analysed in the national level NCDC branch of Ambala. Genome sequencing would be done to know the virus in the laboratory. Apart from this, the lab will have tests for the Nipah virus, Zika virus, rabies, zoonotic disease, Covid, Omicron, Hepatitis, besides other serious viruses and all kinds of new tests. This centre will play an important role in the early detection and diagnosis of diseases.

Vij said till now, this type of test was done only at the NCDC located in Delhi, but now with its establishment in Ambala, would become a major testing centre of North India. This will also save time. Samples of serious and new diseases from all over North India will be checked in the lab at Ambala and research on bacteria would also be done here. After this, the results of the investigation would be given to the Health Department accordingly.

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