No country could develop without promoting research and acquisition of knowledge by its citizens, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya said here on Saturday.
“Research and wealth of knowledge play an important part in the development of the country. We need to encourage research and acquisition of knowledge by people,” he said after laying the foundation for an International Centre of Excellence for Training in Medical Entomology (ICETIME) at the Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC).
Buttressing his argument on research, the Union Minister said the country witnessed during the pandemic the benefit of investing in timely research. “We could contain the spread of the virus because of the timely research to develop vaccines to fight the virus,” he said.
A release from VCRC said ICETIME would offer master’s degrees, diplomas, certificate courses and informal training. The Centre would have a state of the art facility for teaching. The institute would be open to people from southeast Asian and African countries to strengthen the vector control arm of the national programme in their respective regions, the release said.
After laying the foundation for the Centre, the Union Minister visited the Jipmer campus to inaugurate the International School of Public Health. Mr. Mandaviya said the Centre had sanctioned ₹65 crore for the construction of the building.
Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, Speaker R. Selvam, Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) V. Vaithilingam and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) S. Selvaganapathy attended both the programmes.
L-G expresses dismay
Ms. Soundararajan, while participating in the Jipmer programme, expressed her displeasure at the decision of the institute not to play Tamil Thai Vazhthu. The inaugural programme commenced with a rendering of the Dhanvantri prayer by students.
“It is not appropriate to ignore Tamil Thai Vazhthu as the institute caters mostly to Tamil-speaking people. I want the authorities to take corrective steps,” she said. Before winding up the programme, the institute played the song.
