Since the past decade the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been involved intensely in building capacity in bioethics education which is culturally sensitive, and gives importance to topics relevant to India such as genetics, drug development including traditional medicine and social sciences as also international research ethics. ICMR being the Central Body for formulating, coordinating and promoting biomedical research in India has been co-ordinating the bioethics education program in India.
The Specific aims are: i) To develop a working system including Program Director and Co- Director, National Advisory Committee, and International Advisory Committee for program direction;ii) To initiate long term training programs in bioethics for India through ICMR's national and international network of experts as Diploma and Masters Course using distance education;iii) To develop a system to evaluate and modify the Programs on an ongoing basis through feedback from the Course Directors, Faculty and trainees, and Advisory Committees. With large number of clinical trials - ongoing and outsourced - and other interventional studies, India needs to impart bioethics education on war footing. ICMR is the only body that can bring together a national program for strengthening capacity in bioethics and internationally renowned Indira Gandhi National Open University, a distance education institution could facilitate that. ICMR's strong regional network in bioethics through FERCAP and international network through indo-foreign agreements and SIDCER is additional advantage. Using this strength and the core group available in St. Johns Medical College, Bangalore and Christian Medical College, Vellore as also two of ICMR's institutions - National AIDS Research Institution, Pune and Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai - ICMR will disseminate bioethics education.
If medical research in India is to meet the high ideals of standards of care, long term efforts for strengthening capacity in research ethics is required. This will not only protect research participants but will ultimately also improve health of the population.
| Mishra, N N; Bhatia, Triptish; Kumar, Nandini et al. (2014) Knowledge & attitudes of mental health professionals regarding psychiatric research. Indian J Med Res 139:246-51 |
