Next month, India in US to push for stem cell research

Union Minister for Health, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss feels India can easily become a hub for stem cell research, and for a fortnight in June, wil...

Union Minister for Health, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss feels India can easily become a hub for stem cell research, and for a fortnight in June, will put his money where his mouth is, during visits to such research centres across the United States. The Minister—who will be joined in turns by top officials of the Health Ministry—aims to examine possible avenues of cooperation between research centres in the US and in India.

The tour is being projected as an important step in the formulation of a stem cell research policy in India. ‘‘The Government is planning to streamline and encourage stem cell research in the country. I want India to be the hub of stem cell research,’’ said Dr Ramadoss. His tour will begin on June 1, 2005 and the Minister would be back in Delhi on June 13. Figuring in his itinerary, are visits to research institutes like CDC Atlanta, the Stem Cell Research Institute in San Francisco and National Institute of Health in Washington. Dr Ramadoss will be joined in turn by Secretary (Health) P.K. Hota; Director General Health Services, Dr S.P. Agarwal; Director General ICMR, Dr N.K. Ganguly and Director General NACO, Dr S.Y. Qureshi.

Though his tour will include a UN General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS and the signing of an agreement on bird flu surveillance with the Secretary (health) USA, Dr Ramadoss appears more keen on examining possible collaborations. ‘‘About 10 centers in India are conducting stem cell research and we want to bring them under a common umbrella. We are also finalising guidelines for stem cell research in India and would bring in an enactment in a year’s time,’’ he said. Ramadoss is also scheduled to meet Nobel laureate Dr Michael Bishop, Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco.

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Dr. Ramadoss, fresh from his visits to the Medical Research Council and Kings College in UK, said, ‘‘Institutes in the UK are doing some of the best research work in the world; Korea and China are also doing a lot of good work and so is Singapore. India has one of the finest researchers and we have the potential to achieve a lot.’’ Investment in research is another agenda of the Minister, who said: ‘‘A lot of players want to invest in India but we will first encourage academic research.’’

Even as controversy rages in the US over a bill allowing for a wider scope for stem cell research, India currently allows such research, but only for therapeutic purposes, and has been in the news for adult stem cell research in centers like AIIMS.

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