ALAPPUZHA: The Rs 34.5 crore National Institute of Virology remains a scarecrow even after a year since it got the Central nod. Local bodies and medical fraternity are concerned about its future as it reels under acute space crunch in a narrow Medical College Hospital building here. The previous LDF government had notified five acres for the project, which the local people want expedited when epidemics are spreading.
P.M. Afsath, president of the Ambalappuzha North panchayat where the land lies, had no idea about why the delay. Earlier in 2015, Union health minister J.P. Nadda in response to a submission by P. K. Sreemathi Teacher in Parliament said it got delayed due to financial crunch. "We urge the authorities not to waste the land. Works have to be executed sooner," she said.
The state government sought a sophisticated central institute in 2008 in the wake of rising epidemics and the lack of advanced facilities to test samples to enhance preparedness. An incompetent virology institute is now functioning here without enough staff and facilities.
Tests for viral fever, dengue and chikungunya are conducted here, and staff shortage severely affects tests delaying treatment and creating an epidemic. Though the government planned NIV to tackle the outbreak of diseases like dengue fever and Weil's disease recurring in many regions of the state, it could not prevent outbreaks even in its Ambalappuzha panchayat area. An official at the institute said it got no funds for own building so far.
"At present, the institute has as many as 20 staff and sophisticated equipment. It would be better if the government took it seriously and upgraded it as a high-security lab to test animal and bird samples," he said. "It would be an added liability of '6 crore for Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). If it comes to reality, it would be helpful for all southern states."
