Dharmendra proposes for National Institutes of Virology at Bhubaneswar

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Union Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has requested his cabinet colleague and Union Health & Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to give serious consideration to setting up one of the proposed four National Institutes of Virology at Bhubaneswar 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-ICFMD (International Centre for Foot & Mouth Disease), Pradhan stated in his letter. “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. NIV Bhubaneswar will benefit from proximity to the above-mentioned R&D centres of excellence and leverage it for pushing collaborative research efforts,” Pradhan wrote in the letter. The NIV at Bhubaneswar can cater to the population of eastern, south-eastern and central Indian States adding that it will be in line with the Purvodaya vision of the Prime Minister, he pointed. India’s medical R&D institutions like the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune have played a critical role in the fight against the dreaded coronavirus. Covid-19 pandemic may well be the first of many such zoonotic viruses afflicting humanity, the emergence of such viruses in the future cannot be ruled out, he added.