Prince Philip, 99, is admitted to hospital

Britain’s 99-year-old Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, has been admitted to a London hospital after feeling unwell, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday. The palace said the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was admitted to the private King Edward VII Hospital on Tuesday evening. It called the admission “a precautionary measure” taken on the advice of Philip’s doctor. The palace said Philip is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of “observation and rest.” Philip retired from public duties in 2017 and rarely appears in public. During England’s current coronavirus lockdown, he has been staying at Windsor Castle, west of London, with the queen. Philip married Elizabeth in 1947 and is the longest-serving royal consort in British history. He and the queen have four children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. He has had a number of health issues in recent years.

LUCKNOW: Union science and technology minister Dr Harsh Vardhan stressed on the need for ‘people centric research ‘ in his address during the 70th annual day celebration of CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) Lucknow on Wednesday.

“It is not about producing a good research paper that gets published in a renowned journal but about how that research is going to benefit the poorest of the poor in the society. How it will benefit the society and the country. This is also the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said the minister while addressing scientists and scholars of CDRI.

Harsh Vardhan joined the event via a video link.

The minister stressed on the need to focus on making India a leader in scientific research by 2030. Citing the example of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s focus on scientific research he said that we must work on realizing his dream of Indian superiority in the field of science.

“Ever since our Independence, the scientific community with able political leadership has contributed greatly towards the development of sciences in the country. We must work to continue to take this tradition forward,” said the minister.

Dr Shekhar Mande, director general, CSIR and professor Sandeep Verma, secretary, SERB, DST, government of India was the guest of honour. He also congratulated the staff on institute’s 70th annual day.

On the occasion, ‘Atal National Colloquium on Healthcare and Innovation’, a series of lectures from highly eminent persons, to commemorate Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s vision and support for ‘Vigyan’ and CSIR-CDRI was inaugurated by the minister.

Director CSIR-CDRI, professor Tapas Kundu inaugurated ‘Common Research and Technology Development Hub (CRTDH)’ supported jointly by CSIR online.