The 16-member Dr Rajinder Kumar committee, constituted by the Department of Health Research (DHR) to evolve guidelines for accreditation of health research organizations in the country, has submitted its report to the DHR. The committee has noted that all the organizations should be assessed by a technical team as well as by a central committee set up by the DHR for grant of recognition by DHR. Such recognition will be for a period of not more than three years and will be renewed after due review.

The criteria to be used for according recognition may be devised by the committee of experts to be formed by the DHR. While according recognition, these criteria need to be followed in a transparent fashion. One expert on management research may be taken as a member, as some of the research areas have interface with management.

As recognition is the first step towards Accreditation, the DHR decided to develop its own guidelines for recognition of various health research organizations. To accomplish this, secretary, DHR, Dr VM Katoch, constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Rajinder Kumar, retired prof. of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore last year to evolve guidelines for Accreditation of Health Research Organizations in the Country.

The committee met on October 26, 2010, November 29, 2010, January 3, 2011 and February 17, 2011 and deliberated the issue in depth. The committee has now submitted its report along with the application format so that various health research organizations can apply and get recognition once guidelines/format is approved by the government.

The DHR felt that the whole advisory and decision making mechanism must involve primarily those who belong to the health sector who can understand and appreciate the special nuances of the sector. This is best achieved when it is managed by the Department of Health Research which will be involved in all facets of health sector.

Besides, it also felt that a significant percentage of India’s population depends on the Traditional Systems of Medicine for health-care. There is need to recognize research in these systems in terms of efficacy validation, standardization, development of cleaner and safer preparations and incorporating modern drug delivery systems to provide better value to the users of these systems. As these systems are based on different principles than allopathic system, there is need to have special procedures to recognize organizations engaged in research in these systems. There is also a great need to build bridges among various systems of medicine prevalent today so that community can benefit from the optimum integration of these systems. This must be done through the use of concepts of contemporary science. This can be best achieved by DHR where expertise in all disciplines will together be available.

At present, a number of agencies like NABL, Quality Council of India (QCI), NABH, etc. are accrediting the institutions/centers/laboratories related to health sector. In addition the government has also introduced “Clinical Establishment Bill” to regulate various organizations providing health care facilities. But, in the long run, it will be necessary to rationalize all the existing national and international standards and procedures being followed for according accreditation. The DHR will initiate necessary action in that direction at an appropriate time.