Chengalpet on medical map in 3 years

Chennai: In three years, Chengalpet, located south of Chennai, will stop Indian import of a few sophisticated medical equipment and vaccines against human rabies, Japanese Encephalitis, Yellow Fever and high-end medical equipment, as work on two delayed Central government medico projects, the integrated vaccine complex and Medipark both in the town, is gaining momentum.

Tamil Nadu Industries Development Corporation and the Union health ministry will soon request the cabinet to clear the much-awaited Medipark facility, a platform for pharma manufacturers to produce medical equipment in Chengalpet,  a top TN government official said.

The estimated project cost of Medipark is Rs135 crore. It  is being implemented with equity participation of Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco). Requisite clearances and approvals for the project on a single window clearance basis are now in progress and 330 acres of land have already been converted in to plots ranging from 0.50 acres to 3.00 acres, Tidco sources said adding that HLL Biotech is implementing the country’s first medical infrastructure cluster.

Meanwhile, construction of the Rs 600 crore integrated vaccine complex at Chengalpet is nearing completion. The lab infra requirements as per WHO standards will commence by January 2016 and in the next three years, vaccines will start rolling out from the plant, Dr G.N. Lakshmanan, spokesperson, HBL, a Central government enterprise said. The need of the hour is to manufacture vaccines for multi-bacterial and multi-viral diseases so that the nearby states can meet any epidemic or pandemic situations, Mr. Lakshmanan added.

“The vaccine complexes are essential for a country to ensure vaccine security. In foreign countries, there are adequate vaccine stocks. At times, we are importing or procuring vaccines from domestic and international private firms and establishment of integrated vaccine complex can bridge the demand gap and also help public to spend less on vaccines”, said Indian Medical Association technical consultant Dr Ganga Mallan.