Indian Council of Medical Research

To fund various research activities related to medical science, the officers of the then Indian Medical Service established the Indian Research Fund Association in 1911. After independence, it was rechristened as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). What was started to conduct “enquiry” into health problems, has blossomed into a vibrant network of 30 permanent institutes/Centres and over 70 field stations, employing over 5000 personnel including 750 scientists. The budgetary allocation of the Council has also grown over successive plan periods and stands at Rs. 4496 crores in the 11th Plan.

The Mission of the ICMR is to provide better health through research. The Council has evolved over the years in line with changing health research needs, effectively addressing the new challenges that have emerged as a result of the economic, demographic, nutritional and epidemiological transition of the country.

The ICMR provides stewardship and conducts & supports research through its institutions. It also organises research through grants-in-aid projects to non-ICMR institutions. The strategy of ICMR is to have close interaction with health systems and ongoing disease control programmes which are supported by continued generation of scientific and technologically advanced brain base to applied, biomedical to health sciences and from laboratory to field research.

The research priorities of the Council coincide with the health policy and priorities of the country. The Council works very closely with the national programmes, which have well designed targets for control, elimination and eradication of diseases. The ICMR is actively engaged in various aspects of research for control of communicable diseases, improving maternal and child health and nutrition. It has a special focus on the health problems of the marginalised population including tribals, women and under privileged sections of society.

The ICMR has adopted a twin track approach to meet its objectives—intramural research (through its institutes) and extramural research (through grants-in-aid projects to non-ICMR institutions), currently the ICMR spends about 25% of its budget on extramural research programmes. With globalisation, external collaboration has become an important thrust area. It also plays an important role in setting the research agenda, development of human resource and ensuring research is conducted in ethically acceptable manner.

India post is happy to issue a commemorative postage stamp on the Indian Council of Medical Research.