Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and Chemicals & Fertilizers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya today inaugurated the Iconic week celebration of Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav for the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers virtually. As part of Iconic week celebration, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), SAS Nagar, Punjab is conducting a week long actives including lecture series, seminar and exhibitions.
Inaugurating the ICONIC Week, Shri Mandaviya said that India is rightly called the pharmacy of the world. India is the biggest manufacturer of generic medicines. India is also exporting generic medicines to many countries of the world. He said that NIPERs have played an important role in the development of pharma industries in India. He added that their syllabus and research should be aligned towards the need of the industries and they should provide innovative solutions to MSMEs. He further stated that NIPERs should also collaborate with medical device parks being started in the country.
The Union Health Minister said that today when we are celebrating the 75th year of our independence, department of Pharmaceuticals and NIPERs should think of a roadmap for next 25 years. Today we are dependent on imports for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). There are very few patents of medicines in India. This should change in coming 25 years. We must strive to make India self reliant in this field, he stated.
Shri Mandaviya said that by developing vaccines for COVID-19 in record time, India has shown that there is no dearth of brain and manpower in India. He said that the Hon. Prime Minister trusted the capabilities of our scientists and researchers by allotting Rs. 9000 crore for vaccine research under PM Gareeb Kalyan Package. India’s premier medical research organization, ICMR, partnered in the development of Covaxin. On the similar lines, other research and academic institutes should collaborate with industries, he added.
Smt. S. Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Chairperson, Apex Council, NIPERs; Prof. Dulal Panda, Director, NIPER SAS Nagar and other senior officers of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers were present at the event.
The event was webcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKzn4daXoXM