Bill Gates Remarks: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has recently created a new controversy by calling India “a laboratory of sorts” in a podcast with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. His statement has again brought into focus a controversial clinical trial conducted in India in 2009. In this trial, seven tribal schoolgirls died and many others became seriously ill in a clinical trial funded by the Gates Foundation.
Bill Gates said in the podcast, “India is an example of a country where many things are difficult, in which health, nutrition, education are improving. At the same time, the Indian government has strengthened its revenue so much, it is possible that after 20 years the people of India will be in a much better situation.
He further said, “India is a kind of laboratory where you can try things and after you prove them in India, you can take them to other places.”
“The Skin Doctor” talks about controversial clinical trials
This statement given by Bill Gates has once again faced criticism on social media. A Scottish doctor known as “The Skin Doctor” posted a statement from Bill Gates on It was organized by an NGO named Technology in Health.
“It’s a kind of laboratory to try things. When proven in India, they can then be taken to other places.”
— Bill Gates on India.In 2009, the American NGO PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), in collaboration with the ICMR, conducted clinical trials of a cervical… pic.twitter.com/66aFVrxCiM
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) December 2, 2024
He further wrote, “In 2009, PATH, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), conducted clinical trials for a cervical cancer vaccine on 14,000 tribal school girls in Khammam district of Telangana and Vadodara district of Gujarat. Within a few months of the trial, several girls complained of serious side effects and seven of them died.” However, these deaths were later reported to be due to unwanted causes.
This mistake was revealed in the investigation of the trial
The Skin Doctor said that the investigation of these trials revealed serious ethical lapses. He told that these trials were presented as a public health initiative, in which their experimental nature was hidden. After this, it also came to light that the consent forms of the girls who came for the trials were signed by their hostel warden instead of their parents. For this reason, his family members could not get any information about the dangers of these trials.
