Alternative land identified in Coimbatore for Tamil Nadu’s first Medical Devices Testing Laboratory

The State government has identified an alternative land in Coimbatore to set up Tamil Nadu’s first Medical Devices Testing Laboratory.

Sources said that one acre of land on the campus of the Coimbatore Medical College (CMC) on Avinashi Road near Peelamedu has been identified for establishment of the facility.

Though 1.28 acres of Revenue Department at Kavundampalayam was initially chosen to establish the laboratory, it could not be finalised due to technical issues in its allotment.

Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department expedited the hunt for land with the support of other Departments, which ended up in the allocation of one acre on CMC campus close to Tidel Park, following an approval from the Directorate of Medical Education, said sources.

They said that a sum of ₹29.67 crore was allocated in 2024-25 for the establishment of the laboratory, out of which 60% will be borne by the Centre and 40% by the State, under the centrally sponsored ‘Strengthening of State Drug Regulatory Systems’.

Though Tamil Nadu has drug testing laboratories at Chennai and Madurai, it lacks a government laboratory for the testing of medical devices. The proposed laboratory will be the first facility in Tamil Nadu to test standards of all medical devices that have been notified under the Medical Devices Rules, 2017.

Significant presence of manufacturers of such devices in the western region was one of the reasons for having chosen Coimbatore as the location for the laboratory, added sources.