Question : Projects through Various Labs of ICMR

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to
state:

(a) whether the Government has initiated new research projects in various labs of ICMR and other autonomous institutes to address the severities of various diseases;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the funds spent so far in this regard;

(c) the details of the successful projects undertaken by ICMR and other autonomous institutes during the last three years;

(d) whether the Government is facing any bottlenecks in the proper exploitation and execution of the products developed out of these researches; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
(DR. HARSH VARDHAN)


(a) to (e) : A statement is laid on the Table of the House



STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO. 393 FOR 20TH MARCH, 2020

(a)&(b) The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has initiated new research projects through its network of 26 institutes across the country, in different disease specific areas of communicable diseases like tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, kalazar, cholera and non-communicable disease like cancer, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, reproductive biology, child health and nutrition etc. A total grant of Rs. 3099 Cr. has been given to these labs during the last three years.

Under ICMR’s extramural program, it has spent Rs. 791 Cr. to fund 2051 research projects (657 adhoc projects, 1169 fellowships, 184 task force projects and 41 Centres for Advanced Research (CARs)) during last three years.


(c) The list of major successful projects undertaken by ICMR and its institutes during the last three years is annexed.


(d)&(e) The major bottleneck has been the translation/commercialization of leads emerging from successful projects due to various reasons including lack of interest of the companies to come forward for product development. To address this issue, ICMR has signed an MoU with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for commercialization of ICMR technologies under the program ‘Health Technology Acceleration and Commercialization (HTAC).

Besides this, ICMR has a review mechanism in place whereby eminent scientists/experts from various academic institutions screen the completed projects and shortlist the lead/promising findings for further take-up/commercialization.