The government has initiated efforts to upgrade the State Institute for Animal Diseases (SIAD) in Palode, Thiruvananthapuram, as a Biosafety Level (BSL) 3 laboratory, Animal Husbandry Minister J. Chinchurani has said.
Responding to questions in the Assembly on Tuesday, Ms. Chinchurani said a proposal for a ₹27-crore project in this regard was recently submitted to the Centre and the State expected a favourable response. The upgradation would enable SIAD to detect high-risk diseases including Nipah, monkey fever and avian flu.
Diagnostic facilities for such diseases were not available at the institution that currently functions as a BSL 2 laboratory, the Minister said.
