News Excerpt:

The Centre has renamed and repurposed four institutes under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to broaden their scope of work by incorporating data science, artificial intelligence and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

• The decision was taken following recommendations made by the Performance Evaluation Committee.

More details about news:

Renaming of 4 ICMR institutes:

• The National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS) which came into existence in 2005 has been renamed as the National Institute for Research in Digital Health and Data Science.
• The National Institute of Pathology which was set up in 1980 to collect and distribute teaching material in pathology, has been renamed as the National Institute of Child Health & Development Research given its strengths and close links with the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.
• National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) which was constituted in 1992 has been renamed as the National Institute of Translational Virology & AIDS Research to complement the National Institute of Virology (NIV) to expand its scope beyond containing AIDS.
• The National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) which came into existence in 1979, is now the National Institute of Bacterial Infections to facilitate critical requirements to expand research in the area of AMR (Anti- Microbial Resistance).

Panel recommended changes:

• There is a committee tasked with assessing the performance of ICMR. This time, the committee recognized the need to enhance and update certain institutes in terms of their focus areas.
• For instance, NARI was originally established to combat AIDS. However, given the significant progress made in controlling the disease, the committee deemed it necessary to expand the institute's scope beyond HIV/AIDS.
• Similarly, the formation of a dedicated institute to address cholera was crucial in the 1960s, with the availability of vaccines and treatments for cholera today, the committee proposes to redefine the roles of these institutes by broadening their areas of expertise.
• In line with the evolving healthcare sector, changes have been made to the names and mandates of ICMR institutes. 
• Today, advancements such as AI and digital health which were not available 15-20 years ago, have become integral to our healthcare system now.
• The review was initiated by a Performance Evaluation Committee overseeing the functioning of ICMR which aims to analyze various aspects including infrastructure, human resources, budget allocation, research output, impact on public health programs and ways to strengthen ICMR’s contribution to address the evolving health research needs of the country.