Lok Sabha Question No. 3550 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-21
Subject: Biosafety Laboratories
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Shri B K Parthasarathi

## GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRY OFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH RESEARCH

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3550 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21 ST MARCH, 2025

## BIOSAFETYLABORATORIES

## 3550. SHRI B K PARTHASARATHI:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the existing strength of bio-safety laboratories in the country, State-wise classified as per their Bio-safety level (BSL), State/ UT-wise;
- (b) the details of the number of bio-safety labs established and under construction under the scheme for setting up of Nationwide Network of Laboratories for Managing Epidemics and National Calamities, State-wise and year-wise since 2021 as per their BSL and area level i.e. regional, State or medical college level; and
- (c) the details of the funds released by the Government for the establishment of Bio-safety labs under the said scheme, year-wise since 2021?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV)

(a): Department of Health Research (DHR), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has established a network of Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) under the central sector scheme "Setting up of a Nationwide Network of Laboratories for Managing Epidemics and National Calamities'. Under this scheme, 165 bio-safety laboratories, including 11 BSL-3 level labs and 154 BSL-2 level labs have been approved. Besides that, there are 21 other biosafety laboratories established at various institute of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), having equipped with different level of biosafety such as BSL-4 (1), BSL-3 (8) and BSL-2 (12). As informed by Department of Science & Technology (DST), Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) has also funded 5 BSL/ABSL-3 labs under the Intensification of Research in High Priority Areas (IRHPA) programme. Based on inputs from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), 26 bio-safety laboratories have been established in various institutes of DBT.

According to Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), 9 bio-safety laboratories have been established in various institutes of ICAR. As per information provided by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), 11 bio-safety laboratories have been established in various institutes of CSIR.

The State-wise breakup of Bio-safety laboratories is annexed at Annexure-I.

(b): Since the year 2021, a total of 42 Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories have been approved under the scheme "Setting up of a Nationwide Network of Laboratories for Managing Epidemics and National Calamities, out of which 41 labs are BSL-2 and 1 lab is BSL-3. These labs are mainly located in the Microbiology Departments of various medical colleges and research institutions. The funds from the scheme are utilized for upgradation of infrastructure, procurement of equipment, consumables and manpower support. These labs are mandated to conduct diagnosis & research on mainly viral pathogens of public health importance. The testing data are fed on the dedicated data portal setup at ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE), Chennai, which also has data sharing interface with Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) portal. The laboratory is considered functional once the lab starts reporting on the data portal. As on date, out of 42 VRDLs, 38 labs are functional since these are reporting the testing data on the ICMR-NIE portal. 4 labs namely, Nagaon Medical College & Hospital, Nagaon, Assam; Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; Dr Laxminarayan Pandey Government Medical College, Ratlam and Dr B.R. Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali were sanctioned in the current financial year 2024-25. The detailed breakup, state-wise, level and their biosafety level is annexed at Annexure-II.

(c): The details of the funds released for the establishment of Bio-safety labs under the said scheme, year-wise since 2021 is given in Annexure-III.

*****

## A. Biosafety labs approved / established under DHR-ICMR

| Sr. No.   | Name of State/UT         | Bio-safety Level   | Bio-safety Level   | Bio-safety Level   |       |
|-----------|--------------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|-------|
| Sr. No.   | Name of State/UT         | BSL-2              | BSL-3              | BSL-4              | Total |
| 1.        | Andaman &Nicobar Islands | 2                  | 0                  | 0                  | 2     |
| 2.        | Andhra Pradesh           | 9                  | 0                  | 0                  | 9     |
| 3.        | Arunachal Pradesh        | 1                  | 0                  | 0                  | 1     |
| 4.        | Assam                    | 9                  | 2                  | 0                  | 11    |
| 5.        | Bihar                    | 5                  | 1                  | 0                  | 6     |
| 6.        | Chandigarh               | 1                  | 1                  | 0                  | 2     |
| 7.        | Chhattisgarh             | 6                  | 0                  | 0                  | 6     |
| 8.        | Delhi                    | 7                  | 1                  | 0                  | 8     |
| 9.        | Goa                      | 1                  | 0                  | 0                  | 1     |
| 10.       | Gujarat                  | 8                  | 0                  | 0                  | 8     |
| 11.       | Haryana                  | 3                  | 0                  | 0                  | 3     |
| 12.       | Himachal Pradesh         | 4                  | 1                  | 0                  | 5     |
| 13.       | Jammu and Kashmir        | 5                  | 0                  | 0                  | 5     |
| 14.       | Jharkhand                | 3                  | 0                  | 0                  | 3     |
| 15.       | Karnataka                | 11                 | 0                  | 0                  | 11    |
| 16.       | Kerala                   | 7                  | 1                  | 0                  | 8     |
| 17.       | Madhya Pradesh           | 6                  | 1                  | 0                  | 7     |
| 18.       | Maharashtra              | 12                 | 3                  | 1                  | 16    |
| 19.       | Manipur                  | 2                  | 0                  | 0                  | 2     |
| 20.       | Meghalaya                | 1                  | 0                  | 0                  | 1     |
| 21.       | Mizoram                  | 1                  | 0                  | 0                  | 1     |
| 22.       | Odisha                   | 8                  | 1                  | 0                  | 9     |
| 23.       | Puducherry               | 1                  | 1                  | 0                  | 2     |
| 24.       | Punjab                   | 5                  | 0                  | 0                  | 5     |
| 25.       | Rajasthan                | 8                  | 1                  | 0                  | 9     |
| 26.       | Tamil Nadu               | 12                 | 2                  | 0                  | 14    |
| 27.       | Tripura                  | 1                  | 0                  | 0                  | 1     |
| 28.       | Telangana                | 4                  | 1                  | 0                  | 5     |
| 29.       | Uttar Pradesh            | 11                 | 1                  | 0                  | 12    |
| 30.       | Uttarakhand              | 3                  | 0                  | 0                  | 3     |
| 31.       | West Bengal              | 9                  | 1                  | 0                  | 10    |
|           | a. Total                 | 166                | 19                 | 1                  | 186   |

## Annexure-I

- B. Biosafety labs funded by Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), Department of Science & Technology (DST)
- C. Biosafety labs established at various institutes of Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
- D. Biosafety labs established at various institutes of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)
- E. Biosafety labs established at various institutes of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

|   Sr. No. | Name of State/UT   |   BSL/ABSL3 |
|-----------|--------------------|-------------|
|         1 | Andhra Pradesh     |           1 |
|         2 | Karnataka          |           1 |
|         3 | Telangana          |           1 |
|         4 | West Bengal        |           1 |
|         5 | Rajasthan          |           1 |

|   Sr. No. | Name of State/UT   |   BSL-2 |   BSL-3 |
|-----------|--------------------|---------|---------|
|         1 | Delhi              |       3 |       4 |
|         2 | Haryana            |       3 |       3 |
|         3 | Karnataka          |       1 |       1 |
|         4 | Kerala             |       1 |       1 |
|         5 | Maharashtra        |       1 |       0 |
|         6 | Manipur            |       1 |       0 |
|         7 | Odisha             |       1 |       1 |
|         8 | Punjab             |       1 |       0 |
|         9 | Telangana          |       2 |       0 |
|        10 | West Bengal        |       1 |       1 |

|   Sr. No. | Name of State/UT   |   BSL-2 |   BSL-3 |
|-----------|--------------------|---------|---------|
|         1 | Delhi              |       2 |       0 |
|         2 | Haryana            |       0 |       1 |
|         3 | Kerala             |       1 |       0 |
|         4 | Maharashtra        |       1 |       0 |
|         5 | Madhya Pradesh     |       0 |       1 |
|         6 | Odisha             |       0 |       1 |
|         7 | Uttar Pradesh      |       1 |       1 |

|   Sr. No. | Name of State/UT   |   BSL-2/ABSL-2 |   BSL-3 |
|-----------|--------------------|----------------|---------|
|         1 | Chandigarh         |              3 |       1 |
|         2 | Delhi              |              0 |       1 |
|         3 | Jammu &Kashmir     |              0 |       1 |
|         4 | Telangana          |              0 |       1 |
|         5 | Uttar Pradesh      |              2 |       1 |
|         6 | West Bengal        |              1 |       0 |

## The list of VRDLs sanctioned from the year 2021

| State/UT          | Level                 | BSLCategory   | Name of labs                                                                         | Year Sanction   | of   |
|-------------------|-----------------------|---------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------|------|
| Andhra Pradesh    | Medical college Level | BSL-2         | All India Institute of Medical and Sciences, Mangalagiri                             | 2021-22         |      |
| Andhra Pradesh    | Medical college Level | BSL-2         | Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool                                                     | 2022-23         |      |
| Arunachal Pradesh | Medical college Level | BSL-2         | Tomo Riba Institute Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS), Naharlagun                 | 2022-23         |      |
| Assam             | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Diphu Medical College &Hospital, Diphu                                               | 2022-23         |      |
| Assam             | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Guwahati                            | 2022-23         |      |
| Assam             | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Lakhimpur Medical College & Hospital                                                 | 2023-24         |      |
| Assam             | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Nagaon Medical College & Hospital, Nagaon                                            | 2024-25         |      |
| Chhattisgarh      | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Pt. JNM Medical College, Raipur                                                      | 2022-23         |      |
| Chhattisgarh      | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences, Bilaspur                                 | 2022-23         |      |
| Chhattisgarh      | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Late Shrimati Indira Gandhi Memorial Government Medical College, North Bastar Kanker | 2022-23         |      |
| Chhattisgarh      | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Government Medical Colege, Durg                        | 2023-24         |      |
| Delhi             | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Army Hospital Research and Referral Dhaula Kuan                                      | 2022-23         |      |
| Delhi             | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute (VPCI), University of Delhi                        | 2023-24         |      |
| Gujrat            | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rajkot                              | 2022-23         |      |
| Haryana           | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Karnal                                    | 2022-23         |      |
| Himachal Pradesh  | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru Govt. medical College, Chamba                                   | 2021-22         |      |
| Himachal Pradesh  | Regional level        | BSL-3         | All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bilaspur                                    | 2022-23         |      |
| Jammu &Kashmir    | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Government Medical College, Baramulla                                                | 2021-22         |      |
| Jammu &Kashmir    | Medical College Level | BSL-2         | Government Medical College, Anantnag                                                 | 2022-23         |      |

## Annexure-II

| Jharkhand      | State Level           | BSL-2   | All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deogarh                                              | 2021-22   |
|----------------|-----------------------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|
| Karnataka      | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | National Institute of Traditional Medicine Belagavi                                           | 2023-24   |
| Karnataka      | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore                      | 2023-24   |
| Karnataka      | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences, Madikeri                                                | 2023-24   |
| Kerala         | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Government Medical College, Kannur, Pariyaram                                                 | 2021-22   |
| Kerala         | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Government Medical College Manjeri, Malapuram                                                 | 2023-24   |
| Kerala         | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Government Medical College, Ernakulam, Kerala                                                 | 2023-24   |
| Kerala         | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram | 2024-25   |
| Maharashtra    | State Level           | BSL-2   | Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune                                                     | 2021-22   |
| Madhya Pradesh | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Dr Laxminarayan Pandey Government Medical College, Ratlam                                     | 2024-25   |
| Odisha         | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Maharaja Krishna Chandra Gajapati Medical College and Hospital, Brahmapur                     | 2021-22   |
| Punjab         | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | AIIMS, Bathinda                                                                               | 2022-23   |
| Punjab         | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Dr B.R. Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali                                  | 2024-25   |
| Rajasthan      | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Government Medical College, Kota                                                              | 2021-22   |
| Rajasthan      | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Military Hospital Jodhpur                                                                     | 2022-23   |
| Tamil Nadu     | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai                                 | 2021-22   |
| Telangana      | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bibinagar                                    | 2021-22   |
| Uttar Pradesh  | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | All India Institute of Medical Science Raebareli                                              | 2021-22   |
| Uttar Pradesh  | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | Government Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida                                       | 2021-22   |
| Uttar Pradesh  | Medical College Level | BSL-2   | LLRM Medical College, Meerut                                                                  | 2022-23   |
| Uttar Pradesh  | Medical               | BSL-2   | Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate                                                                   | 2023-24   |

|             | College Level               | Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow                                    |
|-------------|-----------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| West Bengal | Medical College Level BSL-2 | Diamond Harbour Govt. Medical College & Hospital, Diamond Harbour 2021-22 |
|             | Medical College Level BSL-2 | All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Kalyani 2021-22          |
| Total       |                             | 42                                                                        |

## The details of fund released under the mentioned scheme is as follows:

| Year                       |   Total amount released under the scheme (Rs in crore) |
|----------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2021-22                    |                                                  75.79 |
| 2022-23                    |                                                  63    |
| 2023-24                    |                                                  60    |
| 2024-25 (As on 20.03.2025) |                                                  60.99 |

Annexure III