India News | Maha: India's First Mobile Biosafety Lab Inaugurated in Nashik

Nashik, Feb 18 (PTI) Union Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pawar on Friday inaugurated the country's first mobile biosafety level 3 (BSL 3) enhanced laboratory in Maharashtra's Nashik district.

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Talking to reporters after inaugurating the facility, Dr Pawar said the laboratory will be a big boost to the health infrastructure.

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"The Centre has prepared Rs 64,000 crore budget – biggest till now for health infrastructure. The Centre will continuously take efforts to give more such good facilities. Four more such laboratories will come up in near future,” the minister said.

The laboratory has been designed and built by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in collaboration with Mumbai-based bio-safety equipment maker Klenzaids. Built at a cost of Rs 25 crore, the lab is a self-sufficient unit, which has every system and equipment essential for standalone operation. Speaking on the occasion, Director General of ICMR Dr Balram Bhargav said the BSL-3 lab is not only the first such facility in India, but in southeast Asia.

“In 2018, the idea to have a mobile laboratory came up. At first, efforts were made to get it from the USA, Japan and other places. But later, we decided to build it here. This laboratory is two steps ahead of CDS USA,” Dr Bhargav said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)