Pathanamthitta: Year after year, Kerala is running out of vaccines, especially the anti-rabies vaccines, as the stray dog menace continues unabated.
The state’s vaccine manufacturing dreams bit the dust when a company started 40 years ago at Kulanada here to manufacture the vaccine against rabies was forced to shut down after 13 years of its inception. It was only the second manufacturing firm in the country and could have well addressed its vaccine demands over the years.
A native of Elavumthitta and a scientist at Pasteur Institute of India, Coonoor, Dr M R Dharmarajan started an institute called the Institute of Viral Vaccine at Kulanada here. The initiative was launched in 1982 by availing a loan from the Kerala Financial Corporation. He imported the equipment and machinery from France.
At that time, the supply of rabies vaccine to veterinary dispensaries in the state was from Kulanada. The company had also started the process of exporting the indigenous vaccines to 90 countries, including African nations. A vaccine for the foot-and-mouth disease had also been manufactured.
K C Gopalakrishna Pillai, an official at the firm's freeze-drying plant, still rues the fate of the firm, which was doing well then. Things suddenly changed for the worse. The higher officials in the Veterinary Department were annoyed when they were not treated “properly”, Pillai said. They made efforts to get a commission in many ways. But Dharmarajan was in no mood to yield.
Soon, the then Director of the Veterinary Department ruled that the vaccine should be distributed only after getting the IVRA certificate again. With that, the vaccine supply to the dispensaries stopped abruptly. There was no way to sell the vaccines.
Later, Spencer & Co. took over the distribution in South India. The firm went on without much difficulty for a while. But then there was no way to pay salaries to the employees. Following this, many left the company. The bank, which provided loans, initiated attachment proceedings. In 1995, the company was completely shut down. Dr Dharmarajan who moved to Ezhukone in Kollam passed away in 2014.
