Incensed by reports that a drug resistant superbug has been traced to India, Government on Friday said there was a need to find out whether some "ulterior motives" were behind the claim.
"We are all concerned about it. Superbug is a global phenomenon. It is not area or country specific. I can tell you this with all the responsibility under my command," Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi told reporters outside Parliament.
"You have read that Kumarswamy Kartikan, one of the co-authors of the report has denied, he has disassociated, from this report," the minister said.
Trivedi said the country cannot take the reports lying down and ought to get to the depth of it.
"...obviously, we have to find out if there are some kind of ulterior motives or not of some pharmaceutical industries as well. I personally feel that sometimes, some things are commercially motivated. So we ought to get into the detail and depth of it. As a country we cannot take anything lying down."
He said as far as drug resistance is concerned, it was a "separate issue".
The Minister also strongly objected to naming the bug after New Delhi.
"It is like HIV. As far as my information is, the first patient of HIV was in America. Can we say it has originated in America. So instead of HIV, can we say America NMD or something like that," he said in dig at western researchers.