Sudha Murty calls for govt-backed cervical cancer vaccine in her first speech in Parliament

In her maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha on July 2, philanthropist and author Sudha Murty called for a cervical cancer vaccination programme sponsored by the government. She also emphasised on promoting domestic tourism.

Murty was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on the eve of International Women's Day by President Droupadi Murmu.

In her first speech, the Rajya Sabha MP said, “There is a vaccination which is given to girls, between the age of nine to 14, known as a cervical vaccination. If the girls take that, it (cancer) can be avoided. We should promote vaccination for the benefit of our girls because prevention is better than cure,”

She said that the government has previously handled a “big vaccination drive during Covid” so it should not be difficult for them to provide cervical cancer vaccination to girls aged 9-14 years.

"It worked very well. It is not expensive. Today it is ₹1,400 for people like me who are in the field. If the government intervenes and negotiates... you can bring it to ₹700-800. We have such a large population. It will be beneficial for our girls in future," she added, saying that the West has developed it and has been using it for 20 years.

Murty on domestic tourism

Promoting domestic tourism, she proposed that 57 domestic tourist sites should be nominated as world heritage sites.

“In India, we have 42 world heritage sites but we have 57 pending and we should bother about it,” she said.

“There is a marvellous statue of Bahubali at Shravanabela Gola in Karnataka. There is a group of monuments in Mandu in Madhya Pradesh that are very very beautiful. If you go to the East, you have Tripura and they have a fantastic sculpture known as Unakoti, a natural roots bridge in Mizoram and the eastern part of India which is God's gift to us,” Murty added.

The Rajya Sabha MP mentioned that a bunch of 2500-year-old monuments of Sarnath are still not among world heritage sites.

“There are beautiful Mughal gardens in Kashmir. We always go and see the film shootings, but we never realise that they are not in the world heritage sites,” Murty added.