nashik south east asias first bio safety level3 plus category mobile laboratory was inaugurated at nashik on saturday union minister of state for health and family welfare dr bharati pawar in the presence and director general of indian council of medical research balram bhargava inaugurated the laboratoryaddressing the gathering dr pawar said in case of a disease outbreak it is a tedious task to arrange for samples take it to national institute of virology niv in pune and then analyse it instead the laboratory on wheels in the form of bsl3 plus will be taken to the areas villages jungles remote places to study the samples this will save enormous turnaround time for detection of pathogens and help in containing the spreadthe minister further stated that the laboratory was an example of indias determination to be selfreliant in the field of research constructed at the cost of rs 25 crore under prime minister ayushman bharat health infrastructure mission pm abhim the laboratory will be controlled by niv and would be used in the region of maharashtra and adjoining areas with vast animal and human population living in close proximity the imcr and klenzaids has constructed the laboratory bhargava said we had been looking for the laboratory from the world health organisation japan europe but we could not hence in 2018 we decided to have our own laboratory and today we have set an example how we have got this first mobile laboratory in the south east asia the dg also said that the icmr was keen on making students aware about the laboratory for which he said several webinars videos and others would be organised soon this laboratory will be a boon for us in future bhargava added vice chancellor of maharashtra university of health sciences lt gen dr madhuri kanitkar said the medical students should make the best use of the icmr laboratory and niv and turn towards researchvax for children below 12 years still under study director general of icmr balram bhargava said that the vaccination for the children below 12 years of age was still under study the tests are being conducted to understand the effect of vaccine on children and scientific data is being collected before a decision can be reached as far as vaccination is concerned he said