The first stem cell research centre in the government sector in Tamil Nadu will be established at the state government owned Stanley Hospital soon, it is learnt. The funding for the project will be provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 15 crore and the amount will be released by ICMR in a phased manner.

Dr R. Surendran, head of Department of Surgical Gastroenterology told Pharmabiz that ICMR agreed to set up the project in principle and a communication in this regard was already received. The hospital will first begin to set up the infrastructure facilities needed for the centre and it will be located at the Surgical Gastroenterology block of the hospital.

A team from ICMR has recently visited the hospital and the approval for starting the research centre has been given. First, the Centre needs to have Good Lab Practice (GLP) and then, a Good Medical Practice (GMP). For implementing GLP alone Rs 3 to 4 crore need to be spent. Almost the same amount will be needed for purchasing equipments. Besides this, there will be expenses for hiring scientists.

As a first step, a team of research scientists from the Hospital will be sent for training at major stem cell research centres in foreign countries.

"Stem cell research is a new initiative the world over. A lot of research is being done using stem cells. May be, in a decade treatments for most diseases in the world will be revolutionized with this novel method. Then we won't lag behind, but it involves several ethical issues also" Dr Surendran said.

He said research using stem cells is going on for some years but only a few successes have been reported. Certain unscrupulous medical practitioners are claiming magical cures for fatal diseases using stem cell therapy.

Stanley Hospital has the biggest Surgical Gastroenterology department in the country with 150 beds. "No other hospital in India has such a facility even among private hospitals. Now we are planning to organize a lever transplant unit using state-of -the-art technology. A liver clinic is also there in our contemplation" Dr Surendran added.