VP Naidu urges scientists from DIPAS to intensify research to tackle future pandemic

New Delhi: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday lauded the contribution of scientists and frontline workers from the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences in the fight against COVID-19 and advised them to intensify their research to effectively combat any such pandemic in the future.

Around 25 scientists and technicians from DIPAS, a Defence Research and Development Organisation lab, were invited to Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas by the vice president.

They were accompanied by DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy.

Interacting with them, Naidu said the pandemic has triggered unprecedented health crisis and severely impacted lives and livelihoods across the world.

Lauding DIPAS and other DRDO labs for rising to the occasion and developing various indigenous products for treatment and management of COVID-19, he said in the wake of the emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2, it is important to be ever vigilant to effectively tackle any future threats.

According to an official statement by the Vice President Secretariat, Satheesh Reddy briefed Naidu about various products and equipment developed indigenously by DRDO labs for treatment and management of COVID-19.

Director of DIPAS Rajeev Varshney was also present during the occasion.