Medical colleges will be made research centres; new policy gets approval

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Health Research Policy, which gives importance to research in medical studies, is about to be implemented. The Higher Education Advisory Committee meeting presided by the Chief Minister approved the policy prepared by the Higher Education Council.

The policy consists of various plans such as turning all government medical colleges in the state into research centres. Research projects up to 5 years will be given by following ICMR criteria. A three-year research scholarship will be awarded to assistant professors. They can carry out research in the nation's biomedical centres. The University of Health will give its approval to this.

Dental, Nursing, Pharmacy and Paramedical colleges will also be made research-oriented. All establishments will be prepared for experiments on infectious diseases. The medical colleges will be linked to Sri Chitra Institute, Rajiv Gandhi Institute and Virology Institute. Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode Medical Colleges will be made autonomous institutions with modern research laboratories. Research will be encouraged in parallel treatment methods like Ayurveda, Unani and Homeo as well.

Research Scholarship, Fellowship

• PhD research program with clinical practice parallel to MD and MS courses for those who passed MBBS
• Research scholarships for researchers, post-doctoral faculty and at the PG level
• Research Fellowship for Associate Professors with more than 10 years to retire and for outstanding Assistant Professors
• Research to discover new drugs, treatments and devices and prove their effectiveness through clinical trials
• 25% of the public health budget will be earmarked for health research