No money for monkey breeding: ICMR
Proposed National Centre for Primate Breeding and Research forced to close before it could even start due to lack of ICMR funds.
The National Centre for Primate Breeding and Research -- India’s first proposed monkey-breeding centre worth Rs 100 crore -- was forced to close down before it could even start due to the lack of funds available with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The centre at Nalasopara, which was supposed to start work in their laboratory this year, has now been lying idle in wilderness for four months.
A senior official from NIRRH said, “Three years ago, a contractor was appointed by the ICMR to start the work. The work begun and it was supposed to be completed last year, but all of sudden we came to know the ICMR has decided to stop this project and further funding has been stopped.”
According to a senior official from NIRRH, the ICMR got 25 acres of land from the government to build this state-of-the-art reaserch centre with two dedicated labs, monkeybreeding centre (rhesus and bonnet monkeys) a bio-medical experimental lab, doctors room etc. The project cost was estimated at Rs 100 crore. Over 500 monkeys could be accommodated in this research laboratory.
Several research projects have been stuck due to the lack of animal trial facilities like HIV vaccine trial and other researches. The research work was completed almost two years ago, but because of the lack of monkeys, the trial was not completed. Scientists are facing huge problems due to the unavailability of funds.
According to senior officers from the health ministry, the current government is focusing more on the research of lifestyle-related diseases like diabetes, hypertension and tuberculosis, leading to the diversion of most of the fund to those projects.
Dr Saumya Swaminatah, ICMR head, said, “Yes it’s true that several research proposals have been stuck as we don't have enough funding. Almost all ICMR institutions are facing fund crunch. But we are working on that.
The primate breeding centre project work started long back, when I was not part of ICMR. I will personally visit the site and get details from NIRRH and push the project accordingly.”
The National Centre for Primate Breeding and Research -- India’s first proposed monkey-breeding centre worth Rs 100 crore -- was forced to close down before it could even start due to the lack of funds available with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The centre at Nalasopara, which was supposed to start work in their laboratory this year, has now been lying idle in wilderness for four months.
The centre, which had received $6 million from Maryland’s National Institute of Health (NIH) to start the monkey breeding facility in India and for bio-medical and health-related research to facilitate global collaborations in support of innovative preclinical solution, had been under construction since 2003. But a combination of obstacles from the changing governments and the perpetual lack of funding, ensured that the project never started. The NIH also helped the National Institute of National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH) -- an ICMR centre in Parel -- to start the Nalasopara centre.
A senior official from NIRRH said, “Three years ago, a contractor was appointed by the ICMR to start the work. The work begun and it was supposed to be completed last year, but all of sudden we came to know the ICMR has decided to stop this project and further funding has been stopped.”
According to a senior official from NIRRH, the ICMR got 25 acres of land from the government to build this state-of-the-art reaserch centre with two dedicated labs, monkeybreeding centre (rhesus and bonnet monkeys) a bio-medical experimental lab, doctors room etc. The project cost was estimated at Rs 100 crore. Over 500 monkeys could be accommodated in this research laboratory.
Several research projects have been stuck due to the lack of animal trial facilities like HIV vaccine trial and other researches. The research work was completed almost two years ago, but because of the lack of monkeys, the trial was not completed. Scientists are facing huge problems due to the unavailability of funds.
According to senior officers from the health ministry, the current government is focusing more on the research of lifestyle-related diseases like diabetes, hypertension and tuberculosis, leading to the diversion of most of the fund to those projects.
Dr Saumya Swaminatah, ICMR head, said, “Yes it’s true that several research proposals have been stuck as we don't have enough funding. Almost all ICMR institutions are facing fund crunch. But we are working on that.
The primate breeding centre project work started long back, when I was not part of ICMR. I will personally visit the site and get details from NIRRH and push the project accordingly.”
