Sharad Pawar Urges Centre to Confer Bharat Ratna Award to Dr Cyrus Poonawalla

"Three out of every five children in the world are being vaccinated by the vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. It was only because of their vaccine production that the outbreak of corona could be reduced." Former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said he requested the Centre to honour Dr Cyrus Poonawala with the Bharat Ratna instead of limiting him to the Padma Shri or Padma Bhushan award.

On behalf of Vanrai Foundation, Pawar conferred the  'Late Dr Mohan Dharia Rashtranrirman Award' to Dr Poonawala. Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, MP Shrinivas Patil, President of Vanrai Ravindra Dharia, President of Vanrai Foundation Dr Girish Gandhi, Vice-Chancellor of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Ved Prakash Mishra, Vanrai Trustee Ganpatrao Patil, Secretary Nilesh Khandekar, Trustee Rohidas More, Secretary Amit Wadekar were present.

"Cyrus Poonawalla and I studied in the same class; But I never studied. Most of our time was spent in the college canteen", Sharad Pawar said jokingly before adding "the thought of how to make vaccines was always running in his head. This is why Serum was born. " "Dr. Mohan Dharia guided the country in a different direction through politics and sociology, nation first was Mohan Dharia's ideology. The Serum Institute is following these ideas and making vaccines keeping in mind not only the country but everyone in the world," Pawar said.

In response to the reception, Dr. Poonawalla said, "My family and organisation have played a big role in making vaccines available to children at the cost of a cup of tea. When he started the institute 30 to 40 years ago, Dr. Dharia contributed to it. It is a matter of satisfaction that millions of children are being saved today."

"So far, this award has been given to nation builders. Giving this honor to Poonawalla has raised the bar for the award. Dr. Dharia gave direction to development through Vanarai Sanstha. Similarly, the work done by Dr Cyrus Poonawalla in the field of medicine has not only taken the country but the world away from a big crisis", Chavan said.