NEW DELHI: The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research on Monday launched a new initiative to develop low cost drugs for infectious diseases like tuberculosis that afflict mainly the poor in India and other developing countries. Big pharmaceutical companies do not spare much resources for these for want of adequate returns.

The initiative is in the form of a web portal, which would provide a platform for researchers in the academia, industry and institutes across the world to share their knowledge and ideas and conduct collaborative research on a voluntary basis.

In a path-breaking initiative that has the potential to revolutionalise the drug manufacturing sector, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Monday launched its Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) programme with the aim of finding a cheap medicine for tuberculosis.

The main objective of the initiative is to produce effective and cheap drugs for diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, which mainly afflict people in developing countries like India, through an alternative process that cannot be patented.

Research centre plan in crisis

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA Sept 5: The initiative taken by the Bengal Tuberculosis Association (BTA), a voluntary organisation, to set up a few more research centres along with advanced pathological laboratories for diagnosis of tuberculosis, has run into rough weather owing to paucity of funds from the international funding agencies.

Nearly six million Delhiites of its population of 15 million are vulnerable to tuberculosis, a health ministry official said.

A day-long orientation course for the graduate private medical practitioners on TB was held at the conference room of civil surgeon (CS) here on Monday with CS Dr. M Shamsul Haque in the chair. CS office organised it in cooperation with BRAC under National TB Control programme.

An inter-ministerial investigation carried out at the Bjemina quarry site pointed out that quarries in and around the area could be negatively affecting the local communities' health and crops.

The report stated that quarries were practising unscientific quarrying and thereby posing a threat to the environment and workers.

Ranchi, July 21: The government today acknowledged that there has been a phenomenal rise in the number of tuberculosis cases in the city and its suburbs.

"Reports filtering in from various government hospitals and healthcare centres indicate that, of late, there has been a rapid increase in the number of tuberculosis patients in Ranchi and in its adjoining rural areas,' Ranchi civil surgeon Geeta Kanth said.

High Sugar Levels Impair One's Ability To Fight Infection: Study Diabetes has now been found to be fuelling India's deadly tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. In fact, according to researchers, it may be to blame for more than 10% of TB cases in India and China.

"As per report in India two persons suffer from Tuberculosis in a minute due to infected cough. And such a patient infects 10 to 15 persons a year. To prevent this we have been taking necessary measures, providing adequate treatment and medicines.' This was stated by Dr Pranati Saikia while addressing an awareness programme on TB organised on the Tezpur Jail premises. Taking part in the programme as a distinguished guest, the noted doctor further dwelt on the ways to combat tuberculosis (TB).