Stung by criticism against him regarding the closing down of three government-owned vaccine manufacturing units, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said that the Centre would set up a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing centre on a 200-acre land at Chengalpet near Chennai.
The vaccine production units at Central Research Institute, Kasauli, Pasteur Institute, Coonoor, and BCG Vaccine Laboratory, Chennai, were “suspended” after a WHO team found that they did not meet the basic quality levels during a routine inspection in 2007, he said.
The health ministry was procuring vaccines worth Rs 750 crore every year, out of which medicines worth only Rs 40 crore was from the PSU units, said Ramadoss, arguing that the stoppage of production will not lead to price hike or shortage of vaccines.
Meanwhile, faced with a flurry of open letters from Bollywood stars following his request to refrain from on-screen smoking, the minister has decided to answer the critics through the Internet.
He said he would start a website in a week or two, though he refused to give the name or other details about his webpage.
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