Govt plans to divest Haffkine Institute, form a separate corporation for medical procurement

To boost the research related to the infectious diseases and production of the vaccines, the state government is planning to divest Haffkine Institute of its responsibility of procurement of the medicines and equipment required for the government-run facilities

To boost the research related to the infectious diseases and production of the vaccines, the state government is planning to divest Haffkine Institute of its responsibility of procurement of the medicines and equipment required for the government-run facilities. The state government is planning a separate corporation for medical and health procurement with a budget to the tune of over ₹4500 crore a year.

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The proposal for constitution of a separate medical services corporation is expected to be placed before the state cabinet in its meeting on Thursday. The poor performance of the institution in research and production of the vaccines over the last few decades, and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years, has led the government to the decision according to the officials.

“The procurement of the medicines, machinery and equipment required by all the hospitals and health centres run by state governments, municipal corporations is done by Haffkine Institute. The dedicated corporation for the procurement is being set up for more transparency and speedy procurement. It will also help the Haffkine to concentrate more on the research,” said an official from the medical education department.

Located in Parel in Central Mumbai, the Haffkine Institute for Training, Research and Testing is one of the oldest biomedical research institutes in the country. Established in 1899 and named after the legendary scientist Dr Waldemar Haffkine who invented the plague vaccine.

According to the officials from public health the institute has not been able to perform to the expectations in terms of invention and research in the last few decades. “In the first half of the 20th century the Institute extended its scope against cholera, tetanus, diphtheria and rabies. It developed and manufactured anti rabies serum and anti-snake venom serum decades ago, but in last few years its performance has not been up to the mark,” the official said.