Kerala to set up institute of virology

Rita Dutta - Mumbai

When the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is creating panic waves globally, the Kerala government has decided to set up a Public Institute of Virology to conduct investigations in virology.

The Rs-15 crore project would have 10 scientific disciplines, including virology, bacteriology and microbiology. An eight acre plot has been earmarked by the government for the project. Speaking to Express Healthcare Management, Dr Jacob John, former HOD, department of virology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, the man who conceptualised this project, said, "Kerala with a population of more than 31 million needs an institute of virology. In fact, each state should have a state level virology institute." Under the proposed project, disease surveillance would be scaled up. The government should emphasise on developing the infrastructure for detecting virus, by building a proper networking of medical officers at the various district and taluka levels, he added. "Since there is no international funding for dengue, malaria or measles, the infrastructure of reporting for the above diseases have not developed," lamented Dr John.

He complained that a handful of virology institutes in the country are unable to cope with the spurt of virus, and hence each state needs to have a virology institute. "We were not able to trace the recent virus outbreak in Uttar Pradesh, which claimed a few lives of children. Why where we late to trace the AIDS virus? It only shows that our pattern of reportage is bad and that investigations are not being conducted as they should be. Here viral cases mostly go unreported or are reported late," rued Dr John. Once the institute is successful in Kerala, setting up of similar institutes in other states would be proposed to the Centre, he added.