|
|
|||||||||||||
-First meeting of the Governing Body of the Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA) was held on November 15, 1911 (at the Plague Laboratory, Bombay, under the Chairmanship of Sir Harcourt Butler). -Articles of the Association were considered and a Scientific Advisory Board was constituted at the same meeting.
-At the 2nd meeting of the Governing Body, a historic decision was taken to start a journal for Indian Medical research.
-The Indian Journal of Medical Research was started in 1913-14 (under the authority of the Director-General, Indian Medical Services).
-The 'Beri-Beri Enquiry' was started at Coonoor (under the guidance of Sir Robert McCarrison). -'Quinine and Malaria Enquiry' was initiated (under Major Sinton at Kasauli). -Kala-azar Ancillary Enquiry was started (with Major Knowles and Dr. Napier). -Research on Indigenous Drugs was initiated (under Col. R.N. Chopra at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, Calcutta).
-The first All India Conference of Medical Research Workers was convened at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Calcutta. (This became an annual event subsequently).
-Research on Nutritional diseases was started at Coonoor (by Col. McCarrison under 'Deficiency Diseases Enquiry').
-IRFA received the first munificient public contribution of Rs.1 lakh from the Maharaja of Parlakimedi.
-Fructification of the plans of Lt.Col. S.R. Christophers for creation of a Central Malaria Organization as "Malaria Survey of India" (by absorbing the Central Malaria Bureau at Kasauli and the Enquiries on Quinine and Malaria and Indian Culicidae). -An Experimental Malaria Station was set up at Karnal as a part of Malaria Survey of India.
-The 'Deficiency Diseases Enquiry' was converted into a Centre of Nutrition Research (with Col. McCarrison as its first Director). -The Publication of "Records of Malaria Survey of India" was started.
-The Governing Body of IRFA completed the task of setting up the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health at Calcutta.
-A course of training in Nutrition was started at the Nutrition Research Laboratories at Coonoor. -"The Nutritive Value of Indian Foods and Planning of Satisfactory Diets" was prepared (which has now been reprinted repeatedly).
-IRFA was registered as a local body not administered by the Government on March 22, 1938 under the Government of India Act No. XXI of 1860. -In tune with the recommendation of the Conference of Far Eastern Countries on Rural Hygiene held in Java in 1937, the Government of India decided that the Nutrition Advisory Committee of the IRFA should also function as the National Nutrition Committee for India. -The "Malaria Survey of India" was redesignated as the "Malaria Institute of India". -"The Records of the Malaria Survey of India" was redesignated as the "Journal of the Malaria Institute of India" (which subsequently became the Indian Journal of Malariology in 1947).
-A Research Fellowship Scheme was started by IRFA.
-Transmission cycle of the parasite of Kala-azar was elucidated by Swaminath, Smith, Shortt and Anderson.
-A Clinical Research Advisory Committee was appointed as a first step to enable greater attention being paid to clinical research and the development of research in medical colleges. -A Clinical Research Unit (the first research unit of IRFA attached to a medical institution) was established at the Indian Cancer Research Centre, Bombay.
-Dr. C.G. Pandit was appointed as the first full time secretary of IRFA in July 1948.
-IRFA was redesignated as the Indian Council of Medical Research (with Dr. C.G. Pandit as its first Director).
-The Virus Research Centre was set up at Pune (renamed as the National institute of Virology in 1978). -A new blood group, the Bombay group was discovered by Dr. H.M. Bhatia and colleagues at Bombay.
-The ICMR received a generous grant of Rs.53000/ - from Col. Amir Chand for instituting a system of prizes and awards for good research work conducted in India in the field of Medicine.
-TheContraceptive Testing Unit and the Reproductive Physiology Unit were set up at Bombay (The Institute for Research in Reproduction came into being by an amalgamation of these two Units, in 1970).
-The ICMR organized a tuberculosis survey on a national basis through its special committee on tuberculosis.
-The Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Centre was set up at Madras (which was redesignated as the Tuberculosis Research Centre in 1978). -The Laboratory Animal Information Services Centre was established in the campus of the Cancer Research Institute, Bombay (which was shifted to Hyderabad, in 1976 and renamed as the National Centre for Laboratory Animal Science in 1995).
-The Blood Group Reference Centre was established at Bombay (renamed as the Institute of Immunohaematology in 1982).
-Kyasanur forest disease was discovered by scientists of the Virus Research Centre in the Sagar-Sorab district of Karnataka.
-The Nutrition Research Laboratories at Coonoor were shifted to Hyderabad in 1959.
-The ICMR Headquarters office moved in its newly constructed building situated at Ansari Nagar.
-The Cholera Research Centre was established at Calcutta (renamed as the National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases in 1979).
-Col. B.L. Taneja took over as the Director of ICMR (the post was redesignated as the Director-General, ICMR, in 1966).
-The Composite Drug Research Scheme, the very first attempt at a multidisciplinary, integrated coordinated research on medicinal plants, was initiated jointly by the ICMR and the Ministry of Health.
-The Indian Registry of Pathology was set up at New Delhi (renamed as the Institute of Pathology in 1980). -The ICMR Permanent Research Cadre of Scientists was established.
-The Occupational Health Research Institute was set up at Ahmedabad (redesignated as the National Institute of Occupational Health in 1970).
-Cell culture from mosquito tissues was established by Dr. K.R.P.Singh (this is now being used all over the world in the study of arboviruses).
-The Nutrition Research Laboratories at Hyderabad was renamed as the National Institute of Nutrition (at its golden jubilee). -Professor P.N. Wahi took over as the Director-General of ICMR (in February). -The Division of Reproductive Biology & Fertility Control was created at the ICMR Headquarters.
-The WHO-ICMR Unit on Genetic Control of Mosquitoes was established. -Three other Technical Divisions were established in the ICMR Headquarters. (viz., Divisions of Epidemiology & Communicable Diseases; Clinical Research; and Basic Medical Sciences) in place of 'Sections' that existed before. -The Composite Drug Research Scheme was transferred to the newly constituted Central Council for Research in Indian Medicine & Homeopathy (by a decision of Parliament). -A Coordinated multicentric study was initiated on the prevalence of Blindness in the country.
ICMR established a network of Contraceptive Testing Units (initially 5 in number). These were renamed as the Human Reproduction Research Centres in 1980. -The in-house periodical of the Council-the ICMR Bulletin, was started (in May 1971), for disseminating information on medical research carried out under the aegis of the ICMR.
ICMR set up a chain of Regional Centres of National Nutrition Monitoring Bureaux, in different parts of India.
-Dr. C. Gopalan took over as the Director-General of ICMR (in February).
-The WHO-ICMR Unit on Genetic Control of Mosquitoes was terminated and the Vector Control Research Centre was established at Pondicherry.
- ICMR took over the Central Jalma Institute for Leprosy at Agra, which was established by the Japanese Leprosy Mission for Asia (JALMA) in 1967. -The Division of Publication & Information was established in ICMR Headquarters. -Medicinal Plants of India-volume-I was published and released in September 1976.
-The Malaria Research Centre was established at Delhi.
-The Food and Drug Toxicology Research Centre was established at the NIN campus in Hyderabad. -The Institutes for Research in Medical Statistics (Delhi and Madras Chapters) were established.
-The Cytology Research Centre was set up at New Delhi (renamed as the Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology in 1988). -Professor V. Ramalingaswami took over as the Director-General of ICMR (in February). -An abridged version of the BCG Trial Report was published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research and the WHO Bulletin simultaneously after seven and half years of follow up.
-The Task Force strategy for centrally coordinated studies was initiated, in various areas. -The full report on BCG vaccine trials in south India was published in a supplement of the Indian Journal of Medical Research (July 1980).
-The Polio Research Unit, which was established in 1949 at Bombay, was redesignated as the Enterovirus Research Centre. -ICMR took over the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute (RMRI) of Medical Sciences at Patna (established by the Government of Bihar in 1963). -The National Cancer Registry Project was started with the establishment of Population and Hospital based Cancer Registries. -The Indian Journal of Malariology was revived (and is being published by the Malaria Research Centre, Delhi). -A Hindi Publication Unit was established in ICMR Headquarters. -The post of Additional Director-General was created at ICMR Headquarters and Dr. S. Sriramachari took over as the first Addl. Director-General, of the Council.
-The Management Information System (MIS) of the ICMR Headquarters was established, in collaboration with the WHO, Geneva. -A supplement of the Indian Journal of Medical Research on 'Traditional Medicine' was brought out in December 1982, to commemorate the birth centenary of Sir Ram Nath Chopra.
-Smt. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India visited ICMR Headquarters on April 22, 1983 and held discussions with senior scientists of ICMR. The activities of ICMR were highlighted, in brief presentations, by senior scientists.
-The Five yearly Assessment Scheme for Scientists of ICMR was initiated. -ICMR revived research on indigenous drugs/traditional medicine with a new, disease-oriented approach and a Scientific Advisory Group on Traditional Medicine Research was constituted in 1983 but actual studies (Multicentric Clinical Trials, Centres for Advanced Research, Central Biostatistical Monitoring Unit etc.) were started in 1984-85. -Reviewing Committee of ICMR constituted in 1983, brought out its Report in 1984.
-Following the Bhopal Gas Disaster on the night of December 2, 1984, the ICMR initiated a series of interdisciplinary investigations on the health of the people with severe, moderate and mild exposure. A Coordinating Unit, which was later redesignated as the Bhopal Gas Disaster Research Centre was established early in 1985 at the Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, to monitor and coordinate the managerial and technical aspects of the various projects.
-A chain of Regional Medical Research Centres was set up : at Bhubaneswar (1981), Dibrugarh (1982), Port-Blair (1983), Jabalpur (1984: for Triibal Health), Jodhpur (1984: named as Desert Medicine Research Centre).
-The Centre for Research in Medical Entomology (CRME) was established at Madurai.
-The Audio-visual Programme Unit of the ICMR Headquarters was set up at Jamia Milia (which was shifted to Malaria Research Centre in 1991).
-The ICMR Genetic Research Centre was established at Bombay. -The ICMR-NIC Centre for Biomedical Information was established. This became 'Online' with MEDLARS for supply of bibliographic information in 1988).
-ICMR set up a network of Reference/Surveillance Centres for AIDS in almost all states of India. -Prof. V. Ramalingaswami retired after an eventful & highly productive tenure of 7 years as Director-General, ICMR in August 1986. -Prof. A.S. Paintal took over as the Director-General of ICMR (in September). -The Integrated Research Information System of the Council (IRIS)-the Management Information System of the ICMR Headquarters became fully operational. -ICMR Patrika-the Hindi version of ICMR Bulletin was launched (in July 1986).
-The National Science Day was celebrated for the first time by the ICMR Headquarters and all its Institutes/Centres in February 1987 through exhibitions, lectures, demonstration campaigns etc. (This has now become an annual event). -Dr. S.P. Tripathy and Dr. Usha K. Luthra took over as Addl. Directors-General of the Council. -Medicinal plants of India-volume 2 was published and released in July 1987.
-A Field Unit of CJIL, Agra for Epidemiology of Leprosy was established at Avadi in Tamil Nadu. -A series of scientific symposia (vigyan sangoshthi)in Hindi medium were launched, in 1988 by lCMR through its Institutes. The first symposium in this series on Leprosy was held at CJIL, Agra.
-The Indian Journal of Medical Research, is the oldest medical journal in India having been started in 1913-14. In the Platinum Jubilee year of the Journal, i.e. 1989 a decision was taken to bifurcate the journal on an experimental basis and to introduce several new features. Since January 1989 the journal was published in two Sections, viz., Section A: Infectious Diseases and Section B: Biomedical Research other than Infectious Diseases. The features introduced include publication of review articles on topics of national interest and relevance and also reprinting of path-breaking researches which are considered as major national/ international landmarks in medical research as IJMR Classics. Some of these include U.N. Brahmachari's original research on the chemotherapy of kala-azar, R.N. Chopra's research on medicinal plants, C.G. Pandit's classical work on endemic fluorosis and classical studies on the effects of low proteins on intermediary metabolism of hepatic ferritin by S.G. Srikantia.
-Prof. A.S. Paintal retired after a tenure of 5 years and Dr.S.P.Tripathy took over as the new Director-General of ICMR (in September). -For the first time, a health science symposium in Hindi (swasthya vigyan sangoshthi)was organized by ICMR Headquarters in September 1991 (as part of the Hindi week). -80th Anniversary celebrations of ICMR were launched by ICMR Headquarters and its permanent Institutes (in different parts of India) on November 15, 1991.
-As part of the 80th Anniversary celebrations of ICMR, the tradition of arranging lectures/orations by eminent scientists was revived during 1992. In this series, Dr. Sarala K. Subba Rao, Deputy Director, Malaria Research Centre; Dr. Abhay Bang, Society for Education, Action & Research in Community Health, Gadhchiroli Maharashtra; and Dr. P.N. Tandon, Bhatnagar Fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, AIIMS, New Delhi, delivered orations/lectures in February and May 1992 respectively. -All major Research Institutes of ICMR in different parts of India organized scientific activities like workshops, open houses/ exhibitions etc. throughout the year as part of the 80th Anniversary of ICMR. -Dr. Usha K. Luthra, Additional Director-General, ICMR, retired after 22 years of distinguished service at ICMR Headquarters. She was also Director of the Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology at New Delhi. -A National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) was set up at Pune.
-A Hindi debate was organized, for the first time,by lCMR on September 15,1993 on the topic "How successful is the use of Hindi in scientific literature?" in which young & middle level scientists of various Technical Divisions of ICMR (Hqrs and Delhi based ICMR Institutes/Centres) participated. -National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, celebrated its platinum jubilee in 1993 by organizing several scientific activities throughout 1993, culminating in the International Symposium on Nutrition during November 25-27, 1993.
-The two sections of the Indian Journal of Medical Research were merged into one with effect from January 1994 (based on a readership survey). -Dr. S.P. Tripathy, Director-General, ICMR,retired on May 7, 1994 after 32 years of distinguished service in the ICMR, and Dr. G.V. Satyavati took over as the new Director-General of ICMR in July 1994. She is the first woman scientist in the country to head not only ICMR, but any Research agency in independent India. -The first Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Centenary Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research, instituted by ICMR in 1991-92, was announced in 1994 (Dr. G. Padamanabhan, Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, is the first recipient of this Award).
-ICMR took steps to establish Information & Communication Networking system including provision of E-mail facility for all the institutes of the Council. -For the first time, ICMR took steps to formulate guidelines for technology transfer through Sponsored Research, Consultancy, Technical Services, etc. to be undertaken by ICMR scientists in various Institutes/Centres. -The 85th Anniversary celebrations of ICMR were launched in November 1995, by organising year-long awareness programmes regarding ICMR contributions in the field of Medical Research, through ICMR institutes located in different parts of India. Symposia/seminars on different health topics were also organised during different months (from November 1995 to November 1996).
- The new (reconstituted) Scientific Advisory Board of the ICMR met on January 30-31, 1996. - The Indian Journal of Medical Research brought out special issues, as part of the 85th year celebrations of ICMR, on Nutrition Research (November 1995), and Diarrhoeal Diseases (July, 1996). The ICMR Bulletin also brought out special issues on such topics as Nutrition, Tuberculosis, AIDS, Tribal Health, Diarrhoeal Diseases, etc. so as to coincide with the theme selected for a particular month as part of the 85th year celebrations (between November 1995 and November 1996). As part of the global theme initiative coordinated by JAMA, USA, the January 1996 issue of the IJMR was devoted to Emerging and Reemerging Infections. -The Central Ethical Committee of ICMR on Human Research constituted under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Justice (Retired) M.N. Venkatachaliah held its first meeting on September 10, 1996. Several subcommittees have been constituted to address specific topics viz., Epidemiological Research; Clinical Evaluation of Products to be Used on Humans; Organ Transplantation; Human Genetics, etc. -Shri H.D. Deve Gowda, Hon'ble Prime Minister of India launched the concluding ceremony of the 85th Year of ICMR on October 15, 1996 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The Hon'ble Prime Minister also gave away the ICMR Prizes and Awards (1994-95) to outstanding biomedical scientists of India. -Shri Shaleem I. Shervani, Hon'ble Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare and President, ICMR Governing Body, was the Chief Guest at the concluding ceremony of the year long celebrations of the 85th year of ICMR on November 29, 1996 at New Delhi. He released a special issue of the ICMR Bulletin on this occasion and presented mementous to the former Additional Directors-General and Directors-General of the ICMR.
-In January 1997, the Governing Body of the ICMR unanimously approved the proposals formulated by the Council for undertaking Contract Research, Consultancy, Technical Services, etc. The various laboratories and Institutes of the Council have already initiated certain projects under this scheme in collaboration with the State Governments, industry, Public Sector Undertakings, etc.
-The ICMR received a generous donation of endowment from His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said, the Ruler of Oman in April 1997. -This endowment will be used to strengthen national facilities in Epidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology in the Council, including the creation of two chairs (one each in these two important areas). -The final meeting of the ICMR Central Ethical Committee on Human Research was held on August 10, 1996 under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Justice (Retired) M.N. Venkatachaliah
-Activities relating to the celebration of The 50th Year of India's Independence initiated by the ICMR include (a) National/International Scientific Workshops/Symposia by major ICMR institutes/Hqrs giving highlights and overviews of ICMR contributions; and (b) Special publications including two special issues of the Indian Journal of Medical Research on Malaria and Research on Ageing, apart from Overview of 50 years of contributions in medical research by the ICMR. -Smt. Renuka Chowdhury, Hon'ble Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare launched the inaugural ceremony of The 50th Year Celebration of India's Independence on August 22, 1997 at a function at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. She also gave away the lCMR Prizes and Awards (1995-96) to outstanding lndian biomedical scientists. |
|||||||||||||
|
___________________________________________________________________________ |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
 |
