Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Kerala Unit, at Kuravanthodu in Alappuzha on Sunday.
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The unit, a Biosafety Level-2 (BSL-2) laboratory under the Indian Council of Medical Research, was established in 2006. It was functioning with minimal facilities at the Government Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha, until late 2022 when the laboratory was shifted to the newly constructed permanent building at Kuravanthodu.
The unit was among a small number of laboratories in the country, apart from the NIV Pune, the apex laboratory, designated as the State nodal laboratory for testing COVID-19 when the pandemic began. Its functional reliability for testing samples for viral diseases is expected to be scaled up further.
The construction of the own building for the unit began in 2011. However, the project got delayed on various accounts.
In a statement issued here, A.M. Ariff, MP, decried the Centre for not inviting him and Health Minister Veena George to the inauguration of the unit. Mr. Ariff said it was after his intervention that the Centre sanctioned an additional ₹10 crore for the completion of the project.