The committee has recommended that the department should ensure that the research initiatives be prioritised as essential on which no compromise can be allowed
When Indian scientists cry foul over dearth of budget for research, a parliamentary committee has pointed out that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) — country's apex research organisation has to be made accountable for judicious utilisation of funds allocated to it. The committee has recommended that the department should ensure that the research initiatives be prioritised as essential on which no compromise can be allowed. Also, the panel has pressed upon ICMR to prioritise its research and get it evaluated by an independent agency for its impact.
"In a resource constrained country like India, judicious utilisation of funds is of paramount importance. Equally important is the fact that the attention should be focused on health outcomes rather than health outlays. The committee would therefore like the department to get all ongoing research projects, being funded wholly or partially with government money evaluated by an independent agency and place the findings in public domain," report of the committee stated.
According to the ICMR, a mechanism for evaluation of overall research output has already been put in place, where an external agency will analyse the impact of the projects of the apex research organisation. "The committee would like the department to put the findings of this external agency in the public domain so as to inform the general public about the projects of ICMR and also make ICMR accountable for judicious utilisation of funds," the report stated.
Taking note of the initiatives taken by the ICMR for promotion of Health Research, the parliamentary panel has indicated formulating research projects for complete eradication of diseases like Hepatitis, Kala Azar, Filariasis etc within a specified time frame. "Pure biomedical research without any accompanying gain in the shape of solutions to health issues confronting the country within a specific time frame will not serve the national interests. The department should chalk out a realistic, time bound roadmap for eradication of the above diseases and project financial requirements accordingly," stated the report.
The panel has pulled up the ICMR for not using allocated funds optimally under some programs. Interestingly, the centre allocated Rs 80 lakh in 2015 for "International cooperation in Medical and Health Research", ICMR could not utilise even half of the amount properly.
"Of Rs 80 lakh, only Rs 39 lakh have been utilised. Such instances of under utilisation of the earmarked funds reflect lack of efficiency of the administrative machinery and planning," the panel said.
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