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Category: Medical

  • India approves DSIR scheme with ₹2,277cr funding

    India approves DSIR scheme with ₹2,277cr funding

    The Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research / Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR/CSIR) Scheme on “Capacity Building and Human Resource Development” with a total outlay of Rs.2277.397 crore for the period of the Fifteenth Finance Commission Cycle 2021-22 to 2025-26.

    The scheme is implemented by the CSIR and will cover all R&D institutions, national laboratories, Institutes of National Importance, Institutes of Eminence, and Universities across the country. The initiative provides a wide platform for young, enthusiastic researchers aspiring to build careers in universities, industry, national R&D laboratories, and academic institutions. Guided by eminent scientists and professors, the scheme will foster growth in Science, Technology & Engineering, Medical, and Mathematical Sciences (STEMM).

    The Capacity Building and Human Resource Development Scheme plays an important role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the S&T sector in India by increasing the researchers per million population. The Scheme has demonstrated its relevance by building capacity and expanding the pool of high-quality human resources in the S&T sector.

    Concerted efforts put in Research and Development (R&D) in Science and Technology (S&T) by the Government of India during last decade, India has improved its position in the Global Innovation Index (GII) to 39th rank in 2024 as per the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) ranking which will further improve in near future under the visionary guidance of the Prime Minister of India. As a result of support to R&D by the Government, India is now among the top three in terms of scientific paper publications as per NSF, USA data. DSIR’s scheme is supporting thousands of research scholars and scientists whose outputs have contributed significantly to India’s S&T achievements.

    This approval creates a historical milestone in CSIR on its 84 years of service to Indian scientific and industrial research, through the umbrella scheme implementation, which accelerates the country’s R&D progress in the present and future generations. CSIR umbrella scheme “Capacity Building and Human Resource Development (CBHRD) which has four sub-schemes such as (i) Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships (ii) the Extramural Research Scheme, the Emeritus Scientist Scheme, and the Bhatnagar Fellowship programme; (iii) Promotion and Recognition of Excellence through the Award Scheme; and (iv) Promoting knowledge sharing through the Travel and Symposia Grant Scheme.

    This initiative reflects the Government’s commitment towards building a robust R&D driven innovation ecosystem and preparing Indian science for global leadership in the 21st century.
    The NewsBit Bureau

  • India to add 10K+ medical seats under ₹15,034cr scheme

    India to add 10K+ medical seats under ₹15,034cr scheme

    The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has approved the Phase-Ill of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for strengthening and upgradation of existing State Government/ Central Government Medical Colleges/ Standalone PG Institutes/ Government Hospitals for increasing 5,000 PG seats and extension of the CSS for upgradation of existing government medical colleges for increasing 5,023 MBBS seats with an enhanced cost ceiling of Rs. 1.50 crore per seat. This initiative will significantly: augment the undergraduate medical capacity; availability of specialist doctors by creating additional postgraduate seats; and enable introduction of new specialties across Government medical institutions. This will strengthen the overall availability of doctors in the country.

    The total financial implications of these two schemes is Rs.15,034.50 crore for a period from 2025-26 to 2028-29. Out of Rs.15034.50 crore, the central share is Rs.10,303.20 crore and the state share is Rs.4731.30 crore.

    Benefits:
    Schemes for augmenting medical seats in government medical colleges/institutions across State/UTs will help augment the availability of doctors and specialists in the country, thereby improving access to quality healthcare, especially in underserved areas. It will also leverage existing infrastructure for cost-effective expansion of tertiary healthcare in the Government institutions as expansion of postgraduate seats ensures a steady supply of specialists in critical disciplines. These schemes aim to promote balanced regional distribution of healthcare resources, while being cost-effective by leveraging existing infrastructure. In the long run, they strengthen the country’s health systems to meet existing and emerging health needs.

    Impact, including employment generation:
    The major output/outcome expected from the schemes are:

    • Providing more opportunities to the students to pursue medical education in India.
    • Enhancing the quality of medical education and training to meet global standards.
    • Adequate availability of doctors and specialists can position India as a prime destination for providing affordable healthcare and thus boosting foreign exchange.
    • Bridging the gap in healthcare accessibility, particularly in underserved rural and remote areas.
    • Generating of direct and indirect employment opportunities in terms of doctors, faculty, paramedical staff, researchers, administrators and support services.
    • Strengthening the health system’s resilience and contributing to overall socio- economic development.
    • Promoting equitable distribution of healthcare infrastructure across States/UTs.

    Implementation strategy and targets:
    The target of these schemes is to increase 5000 PG seats and 5023 UG seats in government institutions by 2028-2029. Detailed guidelines will be issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) for implementation of the schemes.
    The NewsBit Bureau

  • Axtria secures USD 240M funding from Kedaara

    Axtria secures USD 240M funding from Kedaara

    Axtria has raised $240 million from Indian private equity giant Kedaara Capital, per an announcement.

    Structured as a combination of secondary investment and company-sponsored buyback, the funding provides liquidity to Axtria’s current and former employees, as well as its early investors.

    The transaction marks one of the largest employee-centric liquidity events in the industry.

    “At Axtria, we are building a company that is not only transforming life sciences through data and agentic AI but also one that values its people and their contributions through long-term value creation,” said Jaswinder Chadha, President & CEO at Axtria.

    Established in 2010, Axtria provides cloud software and data analytics to life sciences organisations globally, across the commercial and clinical spectrum. It claims to provide support to more than 100 firms across over 75 countries.

    “We look forward to supporting Axtria across organic and inorganic growth opportunities and build on their differentiated value proposition,” said Aashwit Mahajan, Director and Co-Lead, Technology & Technology Services, Kedaara Capital.

    Kedaara pursues control and minority investment opportunities in India. It currently manages over $5.5 billion through investments in several market-leading businesses across a variety of sectors including consumer, financial services, pharma/healthcare, and technology/business services. Its portfolio companies include Aavas Financiers, ASG Eye Hospital, and AU Small Finance Bank, among others.

    In the AI and data analytics space, Kedaara invested $350 million in Impetus Technologies earlier this year. DealStreetAsia

  • Trump’s H-1B fee hike alarms US Healthcare

    Trump’s H-1B fee hike alarms US Healthcare

    The Trump administration’s plan to dramatically raise fees for H-1B visas is drawing concern from US healthcare groups who say the move could worsen staffing shortages as more than half of healthcare workers consider changing jobs within the next year.

    The US Department of Homeland Security is reviewing policy changes that would increase the cost of applying for H-1B visas to as much as $100,000 from the current top of $4,500. The H-1B program allows US employers to hire foreign workers in specialty fields like technology, engineering, medicine, and academia.

    The visas are widely used by the US healthcare sector to recruit international medical graduates or foreign-trained doctors and other professionals trained abroad.

    The American Academy of Family Physicians emphasized that international medical graduates account for more than one-fifth of practicing family doctors and are disproportionately likely to serve in rural areas.

    Fee increase impact on doctor numbers
    US Citizenship and Immigration Services reported that in fiscal year 2025 there were about 442,000 unique H-1B visa beneficiaries across all sectors, with 5,640 petitions approved in the healthcare and social assistance industry alone.

    The influential American Medical Association warned that fees as high as $100,000 could choke off the international physician pipeline.

    “With the US already facing a shortage of doctors, making it harder for international medical graduates to train and practice here means patients will wait longer and drive farther to get care,” said AMA President Bobby Mukkamala.

    Hospital and doctor groups warned that the fee increase could sharply reduce the number of foreign-trained doctors entering the US system. For many hospitals already stretched thin, that could also mean fewer specialists and higher burdens on domestic medical staff.

    The American Hospital Association said hospitals rely on the program as a short-term measure to fill gaps in the workforce.

    “The H-1B visa program plays a critical role in allowing the hospital field to recruit highly skilled physicians and other healthcare professionals to ensure access to care for communities and patients,” an AHA spokesperson said, adding that the group is pushing for exemptions to the increase for healthcare personnel.

    “Nearly 21 million Americans live in areas of the US where foreign-trained physicians account for at least half of all physicians,” the AAFP said.

    Many hospital systems have been contending with staffing pressures since the Covid-19 pandemic. Several, including OhioHealth, Cleveland Clinic, Cedars-Sinai, and Mass General Brigham told Reuters they are assessing what the administration’s changes will mean for their operations.

    The US could be short 13,500 to 86,000 physicians by 2036 as demand grows faster than supply, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Reuters

  • Trump’s Autism claims refuted by EU and WHO

    Trump’s Autism claims refuted by EU and WHO

    European Union and British health agencies confirmed the safety of paracetamol during pregnancy, disputing a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump linking the popular pain medication to autism.
    The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that evidence of a link remained inconsistent and urged caution in drawing conclusions.

    Trump had on Monday linked autism to childhood vaccine use and the taking of Tylenol by women when pregnant, elevating claims not backed by scientific evidence to the forefront of U.S. health policy.

    The European Medicines Agency said on Tuesday that there was no new evidence that would require changes to the region’s current recommendations for the use of paracetamol, known as Tylenol in the United States, during pregnancy.

    “Available evidence has found no link between the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and autism,” the EMA said in a statement, adding paracetamol could be used during pregnancy when needed, though at the lowest effective dose and frequency. On Monday, Britain’s health regulator said that it was safe to use.
    “The evidence remains inconsistent,” WHO spokesperson Tarik JaSarević told a Geneva press briefing when asked about a possible link between paracetamol use in pregnancy and autism.

    He cited unspecified studies that pointed to a possible link but said that this was not confirmed by subsequent research. “This lack of replicability really calls for caution in drawing casual conclusions,” he said.

    In a highly unusual press conference at the White House on Monday, Trump delivered medical advice to pregnant women and parents of young children, repeatedly telling them not to use or administer the painkiller and suggesting that common vaccines not be taken together or so early in a child’s life.

    The advice from Trump goes against that of medical societies, which have cited data from numerous studies showing that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, plays a safe role in the well-being of pregnant women.

    Asked to elaborate further on Trump’s remarks, JaSarević added that vaccines did not cause autism and affirmed their life-saving qualities. “This is something that science has proven, and these things should not be really questioned,” he added. Reuters

  • MP govt expands hospital staff: 354 doctors

    MP govt expands hospital staff: 354 doctors

    In a significant move to address the shortage of medical faculty across government institutions, the Madhya Pradesh government has approved the creation of 354 senior resident doctor posts in key hospitals of cities, including Bhopal, Gwalior, and Jabalpur.

    The decision is expected to bolster both healthcare delivery and medical education in the state. Until now, government hospitals in Madhya Pradesh lacked designated posts for resident doctors — a critical requirement for medical professionals aspiring to become faculty members in medical colleges.

    As per current norms, doctors must complete a one-year residency to qualify for teaching roles in medical colleges.

    The absence of such opportunities had led to a bottleneck in faculty development, despite the growing number of medical colleges in the state.

    “This is a significant decision,” said Kailash Vijayvargia, urban development minister and government spokesperson, after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

    He further said, “Without senior resident positions, doctors were unable to acquire the necessary practical experience, which in turn affected the formation of qualified faculty.”

    The newly sanctioned posts will allow hospitals to absorb senior resident doctors, creating a surplus of trained professionals who can transition into academic roles. This move is expected to ease the faculty crunch and improve the quality of medical education, the minister further said.

    Officials believe the initiative will have a cascading effect; hospitals will benefit from additional hands-on care, while medical colleges will gain access to experienced educators.

    The dual role of resident doctors — providing services and teaching — will enhance both patient care and academic rigour.

    With the healthcare sector expanding rapidly and new medical colleges being established across the state, the demand for qualified faculty has never been higher. The government’s decision to institutionalise senior residency is seen as a strategic step toward long-term capacity building. Initially, the posts will be distributed across major government hospitals in Bhopal, Gwalior, and Jabalpur, with implementation expected to begin shortly. All medical colleges which are in the offing will also benefit from the resident doctors. The Hans India

  • Hospitals in China move to companion-free care system

    Hospitals in China move to companion-free care system

    China’s hospitals are piloting “companion-free” care services to ease the heavy caregiving burden on families.

    In the colorectal and anal surgery ward at Xiangya Hospital in central China’s Hunan Province, nursing assistant Lu Zhidun carefully checks the ostomy bag of a bedridden patient under postoperative care.

    “Our daily work involves providing round-the-clock non-medical care for inpatients, such as feeding, dressing, basic hygiene and repositioning to prevent bedsores. Monitoring the patients’ condition is also a key part of our role. If we notice that a patient is uncomfortable, we must alert the doctors and nurses immediately,” Lu told Xinhua.

    Xiangya Hospital launched the service in April 2025, earning praise from patients’ families. “Thanks to the professional nursing assistants, my wife has recovered very well,” said Xie, whose wife was undergoing treatment in the inpatient department. He added that the initiative has greatly eased the heavy burden of caregiving for families.

    Previously, families of inpatients, overwhelmed by the challenge of balancing work and caregiving, had to hire private caregivers, whose services were often costly and lacked professional standards.

    To address this issue, Chinese health authorities began allowing hospitals to hire and train nursing assistants in 2023. In 2024, they introduced national standards to tighten qualification requirements for this new occupation.

    Under the standards, aspiring nursing assistants seeking entry-level certification must complete a minimum of 150 hours of combined theoretical training and practical hands-on experience.

    Xiangya Hospital requires aspiring nursing assistants to undergo on-the-job training and allows them to start working only after passing the certification exam, explained Yue Liqing, head of the hospital’s nursing department, adding that this initiative helps caregivers transition from informal helpers to professional caregivers.

    “After these caregivers are hired, I also organize a nursing lecture for them every two weeks to help improve their skills and prevent issues that occurred in the past,” said Su Si, head nurse of the colorectal and anal surgery ward at Xiangya Hospital.

    Su noted that the turnover rate among informal caregivers had been high. They previously had no dedicated space for rest or meals, leading to an unsatisfactory situation. To address this, the department repurposed an idle area for caregivers to eat and rest, reflecting a more human-centred approach and helping improve the quality of their service.

    Zhu Guifang, another nursing assistant at this hospital, said, “Now, we can only provide services to patients in this one department, which gives us a sense of belonging. At the same time, we are more familiar with the doctors and nurses in the department, making communication more convenient.”

    Earlier, the cost of one-on-one patient care could reach 320 yuan (about 44.96 U.S. dollars) per day. However, a 2024 national guideline introduced government-regulated pricing for hospital-provided services, significantly reducing costs and helping to close gaps in inpatient care.

    “Now, with government-regulated pricing, the service at Xiangya Hospital costs 154 yuan per day, significantly reducing inpatient expenses,” Yue said.

    In Changsha, the Fourth Hospital of Changsha has been offering “companion-free” care services since 2010, making it the first hospital in Hunan Province to provide this service.

    Tan Liming, president of the hospital, said that over the past 15 years, the “companion-free” care service has delivered remarkable results. “It has not only eased the burden on patients’ families but also improved their hospitalization experience. In the past five years alone, we have provided this service to around 200,000 patients, significantly reducing their caregiving burden,” Tan added.

    At present, six hospitals in Changsha offer this service, and all public hospitals in the city are set to fully implement it, according to Wan Sheng, deputy director of the municipal health commission.

    So far, many big cities and provinces, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Fujian, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Anhui, have already introduced related pilot programs. More regions are expected to follow suit in the near future. Xinhua

  • Gujarat govt introduces Karmayogi Health Scheme

    Gujarat govt introduces Karmayogi Health Scheme

    In a significant step toward public welfare, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel launched the Gujarat Karmayogi Health Security Scheme (G-Category) on Monday during the auspicious Navratri festival. This ambitious health

    Up to Rs. 10 lakh cashless treatment for beneficiaries
    The scheme provides cashless medical coverage of up to Rs. 10 lakh, reinforcing the state’s commitment to employee welfare and reducing the financial burden during health emergencies. Symbolic Ayushman cards were handed out to mark the enrollment of beneficiaries at the event in Gandhinagar.

    Health Minister Rushikesh Patel and top bureaucrats join the launch
    Gujarat’s Health Minister Rushikesh Patel, Chief Secretary Pankaj Joshi, and senior health officials including Additional Chief Secretary Dhananjay Dwivedi and Commissioners Harshad Patel and Ratankunwar Charan Gadhvi attended the event, reflecting high-level administrative backing for the scheme.scheme is tailored to benefit officers of All India Services serving in Gujarat, as well as state government employees, pensioners, and their families.

    94 high-tech 108 ambulances flagged off
    As part of the same initiative, 94 new 108 Emergency Ambulances equipped with advanced life-support systems were flagged off. These ambulances will strengthen golden hour emergency response, particularly in rural and remote areas, improving survival rates and healthcare outcomes across Gujarat.

    Integration of healthcare and emergency services
    Chief Minister Mr. Patel noted that the integration of robust health insurance coverage with modern emergency services represents a holistic approach to healthcare reform. These dual efforts align with Gujarat’s broader vision of building a proactive and responsive public health system.

    Investment in tertiary care and medical infrastructure
    Gujarat has made substantial investments in tertiary care institutions, including the U.N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Gujarat Cancer Research Institute in Ahmedabad. These developments reflect the state’s policy focus on expanding access to specialized and affordable treatment facilities for all.

    Part of a broader healthcare ecosystem
    The Karmayogi Health Security Scheme complements flagship initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat, Mukhyamantri Amrutam (MA) Yojana, and the state’s widespread 108 Ambulance network, forming a comprehensive healthcare safety net for both employees and the general population. Indian Masterminds

  • India’s stroke rehab crisis: 1 centre per 11.7L

    India’s stroke rehab crisis: 1 centre per 11.7L

    India is failing its patients by treating hospital discharge as the end of the treatment, as they are thrown into an unstructured ecosystem of untrained caregivers and fragmented follow-ups, which leads to delayed recovery and frequent readmissions, experts said here, flagging the issue of “rehabilitation shortage”.

    They highlighted this urgent mismatch and underscored that rehabilitation is not a luxury but the missing bridge between survival and healing.

    In reality, recovery begins only after discharge, experts said at the IAPMR Mid-Term CME 2025 event hosted by the Indraprastha Association of Rehabilitation Medicine (Delhi chapter of IAPMR) at the SCOPE Convention on September 12 and 13.

    With the theme “From first steps to golden years – advancing rehabilitation across life spans”, the gathering included leading neurosurgeons, neurologists, physiatrists and healthcare innovators.

    India’s burden of stroke, trauma and critical illness is growing, yet the country has only 1,251 stroke rehabilitation centres for 1.46 billion people — roughly one for every 11.7 lakh individuals. Global benchmarks recommend one recovery bed for every acute hospital bed, but India is nowhere close to this target, the experts said.

    The panel on “Accessibility of PMR Services in the Private Sector” revealed how the gap is particularly stark outside government institutions.

    Insurance and corporate coverage for rehabilitation are grossly inadequate, leaving families to bear the financial and emotional burden of long-term recovery.

    Experts underlined that collaboration between physiatrists and private hospitals is essential to mainstream rehabilitation care.

    Dr Rahul Gupta, Senior Director and Head of Neurosurgery at Fortis Hospital Noida and Escorts, Okhla, Delhi, observed that the problem is not only one of infrastructure but also awareness.

    “The greatest tragedy is ignorance. Families are rarely told that rehabilitation exists as a structured speciality that can transform recovery after stroke, spine surgery, or trauma.

    “Even within the medical community, PMR is often overlooked. Until awareness spreads among doctors and patients, thousands of Indians will remain disabled when they could otherwise return to normal lives,” he said.

    The importance of timing was emphasised by Dr Gaurav Thukral, Co-Founder and President of HCAH India.

    “The first 90 days after a stroke or major surgery decide the future of recovery. This is the window where strength, mobility, speech, and memory can be restored. At HCAH, we have built hospitals where recovery is the sole focus.

    “Robotic gait labs, AI-powered therapy dashboards, and protocol-driven care are not extras but essentials. In the last year alone we have touched more than 9 lakh lives, and we are showing that recovery care is not theoretical, it is measurable, practical, and life-changing,” he noted.

    Dr Tariq Matin, Director and Chief of Neurointerventional Surgery at Artemis Hospital, Gurugram, warned that the crisis is being compounded by policy choices.

    “India’s rehabilitation shortage is alarming but equally serious is the lack of knowledge among doctors themselves. Rehabilitation was recently dropped from the undergraduate medical curriculum by the NMC.

    “This is a dangerous decision that will produce generations of doctors who do not prescribe or prioritise recovery. We appeal strongly for PMR

    (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) to be reinstated in medical education.

    “Without it, India’s healthcare system will remain incomplete no matter how advanced our hospitals become,” he stressed.

    The discussion also stressed the absence of structured post-stroke rehabilitation guidelines in India, even though stroke is one of the leading causes of disability.

    Experts called for national protocols that make rehabilitation mandatory and ensure it is initiated early, ensuring every patient is assessed and referred before leaving the hospital.

    Without such guidelines, thousands of stroke survivors are discharged without a clear path to recovery, losing valuable time in the golden window of rehabilitation.

    Echoing the broader mission, Dr P C Muralidharan, President of IAPMR and Professor of PMR at Government Medical College, Kozhikode, said the CME was designed to move rehabilitation into the centre of India’s health agenda.

    “Rehabilitation is not an add-on to healthcare. It is a right and a necessity across the lifespan from managing childhood disabilities to supporting the elderly, from rebuilding lives after trauma to helping survivors of ICU syndromes.

    “This CME is a platform to strengthen knowledge, create awareness, and remind policymakers and practitioners that without rehabilitation, medicine is incomplete,” he said. PTI

  • IRIS: ICMR’s new tool to measure research impact

    IRIS: ICMR’s new tool to measure research impact

    The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently proposed the Impact of Research and Innovation Scale (IRIS), a scale with which to measure the impactfulness of the effects of biomedical, public health, and allied research projects funded by the organisation. ICMR is India’s topmost governmental grants-giving and research agenda-setting body vis-à-vis health research, so the scale and its calculi will be of great consequence to the Indian medical and health research communities.

    ICMR proposes to measure research impact in units called publication-equivalents (PEs). A research paper published in a peer-reviewed journal that reports results or methods of primary research, or a systematic review and meta-analysis is assigned 1 PE — while a research paper that is cited in policies/guidelines is assigned 10 PEs. A patent’s impact is 5 PEs and that of a commercial device being used at scale is 20 PEs.

    Pros of standardisation
    There are several advantages to measuring research impact in this way. First, using PEs as the ‘unit of impact’ provides a standardised frame of reference to discuss different kinds of impact. It will allow ICMR to assess the impact of heterogenous work from researchers across disciplines, such as biochemistry, physiology, biomedical engineering, public health, etc., operating at different scales, including basic science, translational sciences, population public health sciences, etc.

    Second, IRIS recognises that there is more to research impact than citations. Medical and health researchers, particularly those working in academic setups, typically lack incentives to pursue research that wouldn’t lead to citable academic papers. But a scale like IRIS could break that structure and incentivise researchers to diversify scholars’ research portfolio. Third, tying PEs and IRIS to actual decisions about funding allocation and project prioritisation ensures it won’t be a theoretical, academic exercise. That ICMR is piloting IRIS to measure the impact of existing research grant programmes and institutes is an important signal of action.

    Skewing research evaluation
    For the same reasons, it’s important to examine where and how this relatively simple approach to standardising research evaluation could fail. First, a sound theoretical rationale is missing for PEs as a unit of research impact the way the ICMR will wield it. The ICMR note states that commentary, perspective, and narratives review papers will have 0 PE. In this case, the 1977 paper that introduced the biopsychosocial model of medicine, which transformed medical and public health research, will have no impact. Articulating new ideas and critical discourse around emerging evidence are at the foundation of research and are evidently impactful, yet the PE-based system could discourage Indian researchers from pursuing articles of this nature.

    Second, IRIS can skew how certain research is valued over some other. Research that leads to policy changes receives 10 PEs while commercial devices receive 20 PEs. As a result, the RATIONS clinical trial that studied nutrition in tuberculosis patients and India’s Home-Based Neonatal Care that revolutionised community health programming will be deemed to be less impactful than, say, a commercialised robotic surgery device. This outlook could discourage basic science and academic medicine and coerce researchers and institutions to commercialise their research and innovations.

    While it is their prerogative to do so, there is a danger of this happening at the expense of the ethos of scientific research as a public good. The merits of new proposals are contingent on the local context. Biomedical and health research in India are known to have suffered from a poor research ethics culture, and there is a risk this could expand to affect PEs as well. It is thus vital that our public sector institutions hold the line and stand with the ethos of ‘research as a public good’.

    Finally, a unit and scale that will determine the fate of biomedical and health research in India should be developed following rigorous research standards, with full transparency and mechanisms for accountability. The ICMR note mentions an ongoing pilot across its institutions and positive feedback, but it should follow well-established study design and analysis methods to develop such scales. For instance, the assignment of PEs to different indicators could be done through a national-level Delphi study where researchers form a consensus on the assignment. Data must be shared with independent groups to analyse and validate the scale.

    Measuring research impact is a complicated exercise with no correct answers. Institutions such as the ICMR have the opportunity and the responsibility to solve it creatively and collaboratively. The Hindu