ICMR launching Programme to Make Physicians Scientists, Signing MoUs with 25 Medical Institutes: Director General Dr Rajiv Bahl

New Delhi: Encouraging physicians across the country to pursue medical research, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is launching a new programme, under which, physicians will undergo PhD degrees after becoming faculties in the medical colleges, Dr Rajiv Bahl, the Director General of ICMR told Medical Dialogues.

Informing that ICMR is signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with altogether 25 best medical institutes across the country, Dr. Bahl further mentioned, "The Indian Council of Medical Research is launching a programme from this year to make physicians scientists by making them do PhD degrees after they become faculty in medical colleges. So, we are signing the MoUs with the 25 best medical institutions in the country, which will provide opportunities for people to register for PhD programmes, and ICMR will support their research."

The conversation came in the backdrop of the 64th annual day programme of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. Discussing the need to promote indigenous medical research in India, the ICMR Chief referred to the COVID pandemic and pointed out that the pandemic showed the requirement for medical research to tackle such a crisis.

"I would say that the COVID pandemic has shown us that without our own medical research, we will not be able to tackle any crisis in medical sciences, whether it is epidemic or it is endemic. The increasing burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), and the future pandemic preparedness- all depend upon our medical scientists becoming researchers. Unless we can inculcate research right from the time that a student gets into medicine, does their postgraduation, et cetera, it will not be possible for them to do World-class research," he said.

When asked why clinicians need to get into research, Dr. Bahl added, "When the COVID pandemic came, all the best clinicians in the world were at point zero. They knew nothing about this disease. Not even who actually had the disease, what were the clinical syndromes, what was the pathology, what was the cause, what were the prevention, how could we get a vaccine to prevent COVID, how could we treat COVID- everything came from research. Every single thing. The best pulmonologists, physicians, had no idea about how to manage COVID, how to prevent COVID. So, it showed everybody in the world- from the person on the street to the Prime Ministers and Presidents of countries- the importance of medical research."

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