Cyrus Poonawalla to support rape survivors with legal aid and rehab

PUNE: Cyrus Poonawalla, who was recently conferred with a Doctor of Humane Letters by an American university, has pledged to work for the cause of rape survivors in India.

“I am ready to put in my time and money to support the rape survivors. I will help them get legal aid and rehabilitate them,” Poonawalla said during a ceremony on Sunday, where Sharad Pawar, the NCP chief and former agriculture minister, felicitated him.

The Massachusetts Medical School, in Boston, had recently conferred Poonawalla — the founder of Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer — with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Past recipients of this honour include former US President Barack Obama and

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

, the Liberian president and 2011 co-recipient of Nobel Peace prize.

“Two of three children in the world get vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute of India,” said Pawar.

Meanwhile, Purvez Grant, the chief cardiologist of Ruby Hall Clinic, disclosed that Poonawalla had been nominated for the Nobel Prize. “The low-cost and high-quality vaccines have saved millions of lives. Next are the dengue and pneumonia vaccines,” Grant said.

Though the Nobel committee does not declare the nominations publically, Cyrus Poonawalla’s son Adar confirmed that his father was in the running for a Nobel. “We don’t know the category, but he has been nominated for sure,” he told TOI.