From The Hindu Archives, March 18, 1976: Coonoor polio vaccine unit to be closed

New Delhi, March 17: The oral polio vaccine production unit at the Pasteur Institute, Coonoor, will be closed with effect from March 31. Meanwhile, there is a move for handing over the institute itself to the Centre.

The closure of the vaccine unit, run with Central grants routed through the Indian Council of Medical Research, was decided upon by the Health Ministry on the basis of the opinion of technical experts who had gone into its defective functioning. The technical opinion was that the unit could not be revived without a very heavy expenditure and that even then it was doubtful whether it would be able to produce good, acceptable and safe vaccine.

One of the factors found to have affected the functioning of the unit was dual control. Although the unit was functioning in the Institute, it was an ICMR project and as such there had been lack of rapport between the unit staff and the Institute Director. The Public Accounts Committee of the Lok Sabha had also commented on this sorry state of affairs.

A suggestion was made at one stage that the Institute managed by an Association be handed over to the Centre to ensure effective functioning of both the Institute and the vaccine unit.