D Litt conferred on Dr Cyrus Poonawalla

Mumbai: The Governor of Maharashtra and Chancellor of Universities in the State Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Wednesday (4 Mar) conferred the Honorary D Litt (Honoris Causa) on the Chairman and Managing Director of the Serum Institute of India Dr Cyrus Poonawalla for his contributions to public health through the manufacturing of low cost vaccines. Minister for Higher & Technical and Medical Education Vinod Tawde, Additional Chief Secretary Medha Gadgil and Vice Chancellor of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences Arun Jamkar were present at the Convocation ceremony held at Sahyadri State Guest House in Mumbai on Wed (4 Mar). Replying to the felicitation, Dr Cyrus Poonawalla said immunization is key to prevention of many diseases. He said a large number of children in the world die for want of immunization. Lamenting that that India has among the lowest rates of immunization, which is lower than Bangladesh, Nepal and some Sub-Saharan countries, he called for efforts to make sure that no child is deprived of immunization.