Centre may have to destroy 280 lakh doses of BCG vaccine lying in the cold storages of the BCG Vaccine Lab in Chennai if the Union health ministry is not utilising them in one month, it is learnt. Entire stock of this BCG vaccine, due for expiry next month, has been with BCG Vaccine Lab ever since the unit was shut down in January, 2008.

Such a loss is being incurred at a time when same vaccine is being procured by the government from various private agencies for country's immunisation programme.

Apart from BCG Vaccine Lab in Chennai, the Pasteur Institute of India (PII) in Coonoor and the Central Research Institute (CRI) in Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, had also closed down in January last year after DCGI took the extreme step of suspending their licenses on the WHO charge that these units did not comply with WHO's GMP norms.

Currently none of the three units has any regular directors. Worst is the case of BCG Lab in Chennai. After the stoppage of production, the ministry had reverted its Director, Dr N Elangeswaran, from that post to senior specialist of Microbiology at the Central Government Health Services Institute, Chennai. Later the charge of the director was given additionally to Dr C D Vonod Kumar, a medical officer of the Central Health Institute, Chennai just to look after the day to day affairs of the Institute. The sources said that he is not very familiar with vaccine production.

The director of the CRI, Kasauli is on deputation from Pasteur Institute, Coonoor, where he was in charge of veterinary division. The charge of director at PII, Coonoor is given to Dr B Sekhar, joint director at the Central Leprosy Training & Research Institute, Chennai.

After a series of representations and agitations by various associations of employees and public, the prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh had constituted a Parliamentary Committee to look into the matter, in January this year. The committee was headed by then Rajya Sabha member, Amar Singh. After clear assessment of all the facts, the parliamentary panel had not only criticised the step took by the former health minister, but also recommended for restarting the production of vaccines in the three units.

The three PSU units are now waiting for the action from the new health minister for their revival. The health minister may be forced to find a lasting solution to this issue. An important issue he has to tackle to rope in qualified and experienced persons to manage the institutes.