Lok Sabha Question No. 131 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-02-02
Subject: Vacant Posts in ICMR
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: RAOSAHEB PATIL DANVE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND RE SERCH

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 131 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 ND FEBRUARY, 2018

## VACANT POSTS IN ICMR

## 131. SHRI RAOSAHEB DANVE PATIL:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) the major research projects undertaken by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) during the last three years and the current year;
- (b) whether functioning of ICMR and progress of various health research proj ectstaken thereby have adversely affected due to shortage/vacant posts of scientists and experts therein;
- (c) if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the corrective measures taken/ proposed to be taken by the Government to augment capacity strengthening of ICMR and streamline its functioning?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL )

- (a): List of major research projects is annexed.
- (b) & (c) : No,  only  20  posts  of  Scientist/Expert,  out  of  74  sanctioned posts,  are  vacant currently, due to retirements, deputations and career progression.
- (d): To augment  capacity strengthening and streamline functioning, the  ICMR has enter into  Inter - ministerial  collaborations,  Public - Private  Partnerships  and  has  also  re leased  ICMR Strategy Plan: Agenda 2030.

## Major Projects/Activities & Achievements during last 3 years (2015 - 2018)

## Affordable Health Technology

ICMR is working on various indigenously developed medical technologies/devices/kits whi are cost effective and applicable in primary health care system. During the last 3 years fo innovations took place:

- Six diagnostic technologies which include, ELISA based diagnostic tests for detecti diseases viz. Hepatitis  E  virus,  Kyasanur  Forest  dise ase  (KFD),  Crimean - Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), Chandipura virus (CHPV) and Japanese encephalitis, have been transferred to M/s Cadila Healthcare through execution of license agreement. T of which have been launched in the market.
- Vaccine developme nt initiatives against typhoid and shigellosis (MOU has been signe between ICMR- NICED and Hilleman for commercialization of the product).
- ICMR in collaboration with IIT, Kharagpur is associated with its Imprint programme work in collaboration for desig ning health technologies and finding better technological solutions for human health.
- Four  fertility  assessment  kits  (InduLISA,  CorpuLISA,  LuteLISA  and  FolliLISA) developed and technology licensed to HLL Healthcare, Thiruvananthapuram
- Resazurin reduction test to assess sperm quality and functional ability has been filed. have been prepared and the test is being commercialized by ICMR.
- A sensitive and specific PCR method developed to detect Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection in cervical samples is re ady for commercialization.
- A sensitive and specific ELISA has been developed for the estimation of human int Ostecalcin  (OC)  for  assessment  of  bone  health  especially  in  conditions  such osteoporosis. Second party validation has been carried out.
- ICMR has  signed  an  MoU  with  Federation  of  Indian  Chambers  of  Commerce  and Industry (FICCI) for commercialization of ICMR technologies under the program 'Health Technology Acceleration and Commercialization (HTAC).
- The  Indian  Council  of  Medical  Research  (ICMR) and  the  Department  of  Health  and Family Welfare of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), GOI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), South Korea to collaborate on vaccine research and developm ent.
- Two  MoUs  were  signed  between  ICMR  and  Emami  Healthcare  Ltd,  Kolkata  on 'Development  of  Standardized  Phytopharmaceutical  Formulation  for  Preventing  or Delaying the Development of Type - 2  Diabetes  in  Subjects  with  Pre -Diabetes'  and  on 'Development of Sta ndardized Herbal/Ayurvedic formulation for the Treatment of Sleep disorders'.

## Flagship Programmes

- The  India  TB  Research  Consortium: ICMR  took  a  lead  and  initiated  a  new  flagship Programme to establish India TB research and development Consortium that aims to bring together all major national players (with international collaborators) to address ove scientific questions to tackle TB in a mission mode.
- TB  Diagnostic  Initiative: TruNAT Rif,  an  indigenous,  cost  effective,  rapid  molecular diagnostic kit for TB/MDR - TB has been developed in collaboration with ICMR, DBT and the industry. The feasibility study of TruNAT at 100 microscopy centres at 50 districts ac

10 states has been completed and the report has been reviewed by ICMR expert committ and International Scientific Advisory Group. In view of the above recommendations, it been recommended for roll out under RNTCP at Primary Health Centres (DMCs) in a phased manner. Also, active case finding pilot project has been initiated in five states fo gap in last mile delivery of services amongst tribal populations.

- Malaria  Elimination  Programme: A  Tripartite  Agreement  has  been  signed  involving ICMR, Su n Pharma's Foundation for Disease Elimination and Control of India (FDEC -India) and Govt, of MP to launch 'Malaria Free India' demonstration project in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh by using field tested and proven tools of integrated vector control an d case management strategies.
- Implementation  of  MIP  Vaccine  in  leprosy  contacts  under  Programme  settings : Mycobacterium IndicusPranii (MIP), the world's 1st leprosy vaccine developed in Indi being piloted as preventive vaccine for contacts of patients in Gujarat and Bihar. This is a project which has been jointly proposed by ICMR along with the Central Leprosy Divisi The Vaccines is being produced by Cadilla Pharmaceuticals and the company has agreed provide the vaccine free of cost for this pilo t study. Also, Nikusht , a Real - time monitoring software  developed  by  ICMR  has  been  introduced  into  the  National  Leprosy  Eliminatio Programme (NLEP).

## Enhancing Outreach/Establishing new Centres in deficit/un - served areas

- ICMR  has  established  Samrat  Ashok Tropical  Disease  Research  Centre  at  RMRI,  Patna which will focus on research on various tropical diseases. The other development in th of infrastructure development is the expanding outreach of ICMR in far flung and dif areas like Keylong in La haul&Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh,establishment of satelli centre  of  National  Institute  of  Immunoheamatology  (NIIH),  Mumbai  at  Chandrapur, Maharashtra for screening and management of sickle cell disease and field station of Pune  at  Alappuzha  (A llepy)  and  RMRC,  Port  Blair  in  Car  Nicobar  &Nancowry  islands aimed at providing necessary health facilities.Process has also started for establis new Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) at Gorakhpur, UP for human public health related problems of eastern part of UP as well as Biomedical Research Centre in Guwahati Assam. National  Animal  Resource  Facility  for  Biomedical  Research  is  being  set  up Hyderabad.  This  will  be first  of  its  kind  Institute  for  basic  and  applied  biomedi researchand will  provide  support  to  academic  and  private  R&D  groups  for  preclinica testing. All these Centres will be further strengthened and made fully functional in the c year.

## E - Health/M- Health and Promoting Use of Space Technology Tools

- With  the  changing time,ICMR  is  focusing  its  efforts  on  using  E - Health/M - Health  and promote the use of Space Technology tools. ICMR has developed -a mobile based disease surveillance system for malaria (MosQuit) using mobile platform. This technology has developed  by  RM RC,  Dibrugarh  in  collaboration  with  CDAC,  Pune,  which  has  been deployed  in  Tengaghat  PHC  of  Assam.  ICMR  has  also  developed  various  e - learning programmes in Health Research as well as prepared databases like TB - DRUGS, DDRTB, Food and Nutrition Database, etc .
- To  address  the  impact  of  climate  change  on  human  health  and  promote  use  of  spac technology tools  ICMR has developed an early  warning system of JE for Upper Assam, initiated studies on mapping of malaria and mosquito - genic conditions, developed models forpredicting filariasis. These efforts will be up - scaled for larger use in the coming year.
- PBIT an online webserver for identification of drug targets for infectious diseases ha developed.
- ICMR - NIMR  (National  Institute  of  Malaria  Research),  Delhi  has  signed  and  MoU  with ISRO - IIRS (Indian Institute of Remote Sensing), Dehradun for development of geospat solution for disease surveillance particularly vector - borne diseases and work in the ar ea of Health and GIS for disease modeling.

## Regulatory Issues in Research/deal with strong ethical dimensions

- Regulatory  issues  are  also  important  for  protecting  public  and  patients  and  ICMR developed  various  Bills/Guidelines  which  help  to  take  care  of the  patients  enrolled  for research. The important among these are The Biomedical and Health Research Regulation Bill (Ethical Issues pertaining to Biomedical Research) , Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill,  Guidelines  for  Stem  Cell  Research,  revised  Bioet hics  guidelines  and  Bioethics guideline for health research involving children.

## Nutrition

- Mobile  App  on  'Dietary  Guidelines  For  Indians: The  App  is  based  on  the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Indians prescribed by NIN.
- Fortified Food to Fight Ma lnutrition : ICMR has come up with a micronutrient mix that is being considered by government for its flagship programmes.
- Release  of  Indian  Food  Composition  Tables :  The  new  'Indian  Food  Composition Tables 2017',  comprising  of  data  of  586  varieties  of Indian foods and their nutritive values, was released.
- ICMR has taken up a project involving Nutrition Interventions in adolescent girls . 18 Navodaya Schools  have been identified
- ICMR in collaboration with DBT and ICAR is working on ,  'Establishment of nu tri smart villages and backyard nutrigardens'. 3 nutrition deficient districts have been identified.

## Disease Burden Estimation/Other Research Studies

- India's  State - Level  Disease  Burden  report released  (Jointly  by  the  Public  Health Foundation  of  India (PHFI),  ICMR  &  the  Institute  for  Heath  Metrics  and  Evaluation (IHME)  that  contained  State -Level  Disease  Burden  and  Risk  Factors  estimates  to improve health programmes and planning in India.
- Preparedness of ICMR to handle Zika virus outbreak: NIV, Pune has capacity to test the samples received during the acute phase of the disease by RT - PCR.  A  training  of DHR/ICMR  VRDLs  and  concerned  ICMR  Institutes  for  Zika  virus  testing  is  shortly being organized. ICMR also issued an alert to several paediatr icians as well as the Viral Research & Diagnostic Laboratories to refer suspected samples for Zika testing at Pune. The detection of Zika virus infection in India was accomplished through ICMR's surveillance network.
- National  Anti - Microbial  Resistance Surveillance  Network  (AMRSN) continued  to enable compilation of National Data of AMR at different levels of Health Care. P one of the global leaders in anti - infectivesand  medical therapy is committed to combat AMR and has partnered with ICMR as part of  its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity to achieve the unified goal of reducing AMR.
- National Hospital Based Rotavirus Surveillance Network : The study has been carried out at 4 Major referral labs, 7 ICMR's Regional labs and 23 hospital sit es t o observe the trend  in  burden  of  rotavirus  diarrhoea  as  well  as  impact  of  Rotavirus  vaccine Universal Immunization Program (UIP).
- ICMR - INDIAB , an epidemiological study on diabetes: Th  study is a landmark study providing authentic epidemiological data on diabetes, prediabetes, hypertens dyslipidemia  and  obesity  from  the  various  States  of  India.  The  ICMR -INDIAB  study gains significance as it is collecting representative data from he various States and Union Territories in India. The study has been completed in 14 states and one UT and the obtained has been shared with the State health departments. Data provide a snap sh the existing burden of pre diabetes, diabetes, hyp ertension and obesity in the country.
- National Cancer Registry  Programme: Since 1982 providing systematic, continuous data in cancer Incidence, burden, mortality, trends, clinical care and survival th Population Based Cancer Registries (PBCR)and 2 7 Hospital Based Cancer Registries(HBCR).
- Baseline serosurvey to assess the prevalence of antibodies for dengue, chikungunya and JE :  This serosurvey is ongoing in 15 States of the country.
- Sentinel surveillance for Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) in In dia : The study has been initiated at 6 sites. Aim is assess the impact of Measles Rubella vaccina India.
- Hospital based sentinel surveillance for Pneumonia and Invasive Bacterial Diseases (IBD) :  The  study  has  been  initiated  at  6  sites.  Aim  is  to  ass ess  the  impact  of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine(PCV).