The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Call to indigenise medical instrumentation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 04, 2007
ePaper


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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Call to indigenise medical instrumentation

R. Sujatha

It will bring down the cost of diagnostic tests, say scientists "Scientists should focus on solving problems than on publications and project funds"

CHENNAI: It is a matter of concern that though about 90 per cent of the medical instruments currently in use are imported, few can diagnose infectious diseases, a major health problem in India, say scientists. The cost of diagnosis is high as instruments are imported. This escalates the cost for the patient. Scientists have called for indigenous instrumentation that can be later transferred for use to the public on the lines of the soil testing kit, the technology for which has been transferred for use to farmers.

Early this week, about 50 scientists, doctors, researchers and equipment manufacturers met at Alagappa College of Technology (A.C. Tech) to deliberate on methods to develop equipment indigenously for infectious diseases. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is supporting the projects. Three Chennai-based companies, Svapas, K. B. Chandrasekhar Foundation's new technology incubation facility at Chromepet, Span Diagnostics, that has developed several indigenous diagnostic products for 50 years and Sygenics Biotech, participated.

T. Ramasami, Secretary, DST, urged the scientists to focus on solving the problem rather than on publications and project funds.

The challenge is to develop medical instruments with zero risk, he said. Chennai now provides appropriate ferment for medical instrumentation.

The parameters for mission-oriented projects were problem identification, anatomy, capacity, expertise (either indigenous or even overseas), time-frame, benchmarks and making of prototypes and products to specifications and taking skill-set into account, managerial skills and leadership.

At the technical session, Uma Sekar, Sri Ramachandra Medical College, spoke about emergence of multi drug resistance as a grave threat and the need for their surveillance and finding their clonal origin. S. L. Hoti, Vector Control Research Centre, Puducherry, presented the case for instrumentation requirements in surveillance of vectors and pathogens. Mohan Rao, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and Dr. Lily Therese, Sankara Nethralaya spoke of their success with nucleic acid based detection of multiple ophthalmic pathogens. T. Venkatesh, St. John's Medical College, spoke of the necessity to contain lead exposure to safe levels in the environment through instrumental surveillance. M. S. Thakur, CFTRI, Mysore, listed the methods developed by his group to detect food-borne pathogens. P. Kaliraj, Dean of A.C.Tech, also participated.

Project advisory member K. Sankaran from the Centre for Biotechnology, Anna University, outlined the organisational design of the programme. Laxman Prasad, programme adviser, George Chandy, Director, CMC, Vellore, physicist E. S. R. Gopal from Indian Institute of Science, and Pawan Kapur of Central Scientific Instrumentation Organization, Chandigarh spoke. Dr. Gopal called for developing instruments through cluster projects.

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