NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) has finally approved the long-standing proposal to change the administrative structure for the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The ICMR will now function as the main research arm of a new Department of Health Research (DHR) that will be established under the Ministry. The ICMR director-general will be the secretary of the DHR as well. According to Mr. Prasanna K. Hota, secretary, MoH&FW, a meeting of the Ministry held last week took a positive decision on the proposal, and approval by the full Cabinet is awaited.

In its representation made to the Government for the creation of the DHR, the ICMR observed: "As compared to other departments like the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), created much later than the ICMR, the funding of the ICMR continues to be small. This could be because the allocation of the ICMR budget comes from the overall budget outlay of MoH&FW. In view of the budgetary constraint, the Council is not able to adequately support several critical areas of cutting edge science like stem cell research, functional genomics, molecular medicine and proteomics that are vital to bring better drugs and devices into market..."

"For the research results generated to be translated into policy," the ICMR note added, "a vibrant health research system is required for implementation... The secretary, DHR, would be ideally placed to take up this at various levels of [the] government to make this implementation happen. As the secretary, DHR, would be part of the Health Ministry, this coordination with the MoH&FW would be easier and could be done in a meaningful manner... The Secretary, DHR, will also be better placed in articulating the policies of the MoH&FW... The creation of DHR will lead to better coordination between various S&T departments under the Ministry of S&T..."

However, the proposal did not receive the desired response from the Ministry till the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (SAC-PM) under Prof. C.N.R. Rao took up the issue last year and made appropriate recommendations. The move got further impetus from the five-member international ICMR Performance Appraisal Board (PAB) that had been constituted by the Ministry last year. The PAB was headed by the former Chairman of the Space Commission, Dr. K. Kasturirangan.

In the report submitted in September 2005, the PAB said: "A new pattern of governance for health research in India is unanimously and strongly recommended to provide necessary functional autonomy to the ICMR... Health research... should be governed by a Commission on Health research, patterned on the Department of Space and Atomic Energy... The Board strongly recommends that the currently initiated administrative actions to create the Department of Medical Research within the Ministry of Health with DG, ICMR, as its Secretary, should be implemented immediately... The ICMR would be a body charged with the responsibility of executing the research policy approved by the Commission..."

The proposal to change ICMR's administrative structure is more than two decades old. The ICMR Review Committee of 1984 had recommended "any existing disparities in the autonomous character of the ICMR and the CSIR, including those relating to the powers of the DG and the ex-officio ranking of the DG as Secretary should be removed without delay."

However, in its Action Taken Report, the Government merely stated: "The matter relating to the powers of DG and disparities in the autonomous character of ICMR is being currently considered at the highest level of the Government." The issue had, unfortunately, remained that way all these years.

While the way for the creation of a department of health research has been cleared, the Ministry has not considered the PAB's recommendation of establishing a health commission.

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