The Department of Health Research has prepared the draft of four schemes, mainly to promote basic, applied and clinical health research and ensure infrastructure for research work. The Department has sent them to the Planning Commission for in-principle approval, sources said.

The four schemes are envisaged for augmentation of infrastructure and manpower broadly. 'Creation of Network of Laboratories for Viral Diagnosis' is the first scheme under which there is a proposal to set up four categories of laboratories across the country. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and National Institute of Virology will be made national reference centres in the first category. As many as 28 Grade 1 laboratories with BSL-IV facilities, 60 Grade II labs and 80 Grade III laboratories will be set up in the other three categories.

The second scheme is meant to extend special support to the medical colleges by assisting them for setting up advanced centres on various aspects of medicine in different institutions/places, establishing modern biology units, and for creating advanced centres in selected medical colleges in a phased manner, sources said.

Establishment of model rural health research units is the third scheme while the fourth scheme proposed is for strengthening the existing model rural health research units. Creation of training facilities for doctors and other health care personnel on diagnosis, treatment and epidemiology at these units will be taken up to strengthen them.

The new schemes were proposed as health research is confined to a handful of medical colleges as the remaining medical colleges lack requisite infrastructure and manpower for conducting research. Also there are negligible incentives available for conducting medical research.

“We had sent these proposals sometime ago and are pursuing them very vigorously for early approval. We will work out the procedural details of the schemes once the in-principle approval is given and take efforts to implement them in a time-bound manner,” according to sources in the Indian Council of Medical Research.