After a gap of 19 months, the BCG Lab in Chennai has got a new regular director. The Union Health Ministry has appointed Dr Usha Soren Singh, a microbiologist from National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi, as the director of the BCG Lab in Chennai.

She was working as the consultant microbiologist at NICD, New Delhi. She took over charge as the director of the lab last week.

For the last one year, the BCG Lab has been working without a director, but was looked after by a medical officer with temporary powers. Only microbiologists are appointed as the regular director of the institute.

While suspending the production license of the Lab in January last year, along with other two public sector vaccine manufacturing companies in the country (PII, Coonoor and CRI, Kasauli), a microbiologist, Dr Elangeswaran was handling the Unit with regular powers of director. He was also in charge of the Pasteur Institute in Coonoor. But following some allegations and CBI enquiry against him, the Health Ministry had demoted him from the post of Director and posted as senior specialist of Microbiology at the Central Government Health Services Institute, Chennai.

The charge of office was given to Dr C Vinod Kumar additionally. But the Unit was struggling hard in the absence of a Microbiologist-cum Director, according to sources from the Unit.

Meanwhile, in October 2008, the then Union Health Minister had appointed an officer in the rank of a joint director from the CRI, Kasauli as the director of the Lab. But the officer, Dr Somanath Karmarkar did not join duty.

Later, following pressure from trade Unions and NGOs in the state against the suspension of production license to the Unit, the present Union Health Minister revoked the suspension order given of the former Union Health Minister Dr Ambumony Ramdoss in June this year.

The production of BCG vaccine in the unit was stopped on January 15, 2008 following the cancellation of license by the Health Ministry citing comments by WHO on GMP norms. The Ministry had a plan to convert the lab into a drug testing facility. The Health Ministry had closed the three units after projecting a proposal of 600 crore comprehensive Vaccine Park to be brought up in Chengalpettu near Chennai.

Following the closure, several states in the country were facing serious shortage of various vaccines used under Universal Immunization Programme. In Tamil Nadu, Save Children Movement, an NGO, held so many agitations and protests against the decision of the former Union Minister.

The BCG Lab was manufacturing anti-tuberculosis Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine (BCG Vaccine) for the last 60 years. A total of 122 employees are working in the BCG Lab.