With a view to tap the potentials of India as a research hub in the health sector, the government may initiate a number of steps including a comprehensive health research policy and action plan, even as the decision to set up a separate department under the Health Ministry is yet to be materialized.

Indications are that the centre will have a look at the draft research policy prepared by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) some time back. The policy would be on the lines of science and technology policy to boost the health research, which is viewed now as highly insufficient, given the huge challenges the country is poised to face in the form of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Settings up of a few new institutes are also being recommended to address some of the important areas. Schools of public health, clinical trial centre, centre for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and stroke, animal resource facility, and Institute for research on ageing are some of suggestions before the centre in this regard.

This policy would aim to generate the evidence-base for health systems and services, so that they will be significant promoters of equity and contribute to national development, besides establishing linkages between health research and national health programs to facilitate the operationalisation of evidence-based programs and to obtain feedback for the optimisation of health research, sources said.

It would seek to encourage the development of fundamental research in areas relevant to health to ensure that a national critical mass of scientists who can contribute the benefits of modern technology to health research is developed. The proposed policy would also ensure that the optimum benefits of modern technology are harnessed to promote national health; build and integrate capacity for research in National Health Programs, research institutions and in the private sector (profit and non-profit organisations) utilising as far as possible areas of excellence already available in the country.

It would facilitate optimal use of information, communication and networking technology to ensure that the global knowledge base is available for national programs, and that research is channelled in relevant directions without unnecessary duplication; manage global resources and transactional collaborations optimally to ensure that collaborative health research primarily facilitates the development of national health systems and services. It would also ensure that health research is truly inter-sectoral and can harness the resources in areas such as social sciences, economics and traditional systems of medicine; optimum harmonisation of national policies is essential to facilitate inter-sectoral collaboration and partnership, so that maximum developmental returns can occur from health research.

A National Health Research System (NHRS) is another proposal so that all research agencies, cutting across ministries and sectors, identify priority areas of research and coordinate with each other to avoid duplication, fragmentation, redundancy and gaps in knowledge, in order to enable the results of research to transform health as a major driving force for development.

A biennial health research plan, which would be reviewed and updated every year is another steps being contemplated by the Centre. There is also plan for setting up an interdisciplinary team to monitor the health systems research.

Though there was an announcement to set up a separate department for health research under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it is yet to take shape.