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With a view to encourage and promote medical research in the country including research for the treatment of diseases, the Department of Health Research has the following schemes/sub-schemes:
- Grant-in-aid scheme for Inter-sectoral Coverage & Coordination for Promotion and Guidance on Health Research with a view to providing support in the form of grant-in-aid for carrying out research studies to identify the existing knowledge gaps and to translate the existing health leads into deliverable products. There is a special focus on encouraging innovation, translation and implementation by collaboration and cooperation with other agencies.
- Human Resource Development for Health Research with the aim to create a pool of talented health research personnel in the country by upgrading skills of faculty of Medical Colleges/ Institutes, mid-career Scientists, medical students, etc., by specialized training in priority areas of health research in leading national and international institutions, encourage and support the trainees to develop and take up research projects for addressing critical national and local health problems and financial assistance to Institutions for up-gradation of infrastructure to enable such Institutions to provide training with state of the art technologies.
- Establishment of Network of Laboratories for Managing Epidemics and Natural Calamities through the establishment of Viral Research & Diagnostics Laboratories across the country for creating infrastructures for developing capacity for identification of novel and unknown viruses; providing training to health professionals and undertaking research for identification of emerging and newer genetically active/ modified agents.
- Establishment of Multi-Disciplinary Research Units (MRUs) in Government Medical Colleges/Institutes with the view to encourage and strengthen an environment of medical research in Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Government Medical Colleges, bridge the gap in the infrastructure inhibiting health research in the Medical Colleges and ultimately to improve the overall health status of the population by creating an evidence-based application of diagnostic procedures/processes/methods.
- Establishment of Model Rural Health Research Units (MRHRUs) in States, in close proximity to the PHCs/CHCs to undertake medical research by creating the infrastructure for the transfer of technology to the rural level for improving quality of health services to the rural population.
- Health Technology Assessment in India (HTAIn) for providing evidence-based guidelines on the cost-effectiveness of technologies, namely, treatments, devices and technologies for providing access to quality healthcare at an affordable cost.
Besides this, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), an apex and premier research organisation, which is an autonomous body under the Department of Health Research, is engaged in Medical/Health research through the network of its 26 research institutes and funding of extramural research projects through the medical colleges, other research institutions, etc. Apart from the Department of Health Research, the Departments of Biotechnology, Science & Technology, Health & Family Welfare, etc., also provide fellowships and grants for carrying out biomedical research.
Indian Council of Medical Research has cooperation arrangements in the area of biomedical research with several countries such as USA, UK, France, Germany Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Africa, Myanmar and Nepal to facilitate and strengthen research collaboration in several areas of mutual interest between India and foreign countries. These arrangements are in partnership mode for collaborative research projects and capacity building in biomedical research.
The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Sh. Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today.
