Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept 3: Addressing the 11th International Rotavirus Symposium at Hotel Taj Palace, here today, Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Space and Atomic Energy said, it is a matter of pride for the country that the first indigenous Rotavirus Vaccine from an Indian strain 116E and also an injectable polio vaccine developed with the support of Department of Biotechnology under his Ministry have been formally launched and made available to the Union Ministry of Health as well as the health agencies abroad for clinical application.
Dr Jitendra Singh said,rotavirus infection normally affects children with symptoms like fever, vomiting, abdominal pain and profuse watery diarhoea sometimes leading to severe dehydration and death resulting in great agony to parents and therefore, the new vaccine will serve as a major breakthrough in the field of prevention and control of infections particularly in tropical regions like the Indian sub-continent. Similarly, the injectable polio vaccine produced from India will prove to be a cost effective and reliable option for polio prevention, he added.
Describing this as a major achievement during his brief tenure as the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh said that following these new initiatives, India today can rightfully claim to be a world leader in the field of preventive medicine. In this context, he also referred to the guidelines for prevention of “Diabetes in pregnancy” formulated by an Indian group of which he was himself a member and said that these guidelines have now been officially approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a standard practice for treating pregnant women with diabetes.
He said that the next few decades will ensure that the Indian science researchers need not look westwards but on the contrary, the western researchers will look eastwards and towards India for inspiration.
Dr. Roger Glass, Director, Fogarty International Center, US NIH, Dr. Mathuram Santosham of John Hopkins University, Dr. M.K. Bhan, former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology and Dr. Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology were also present on the occasion.
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