Health Minister Azad inaugurates centenary celebrations of ICMR

NEW DELHI - Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad inaugurated the centenary celebrations of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) here on Monday.

Azad hailed researchers for their work in the field of medicine and disease control on the occasion.

“It was heartening to note that over 60 percent of funding for research on neglected diseases in India is from ICMR during recent years. This reflects the real focus of the research of ICMR, which keeps the poor and marginalised people at the centre of priorities,” said Azad.

He said since non-communicable diseases like cancer have emerged as major threat, control of infectious diseases by using proper vaccination is still a matter of concern.

Ghulam Nabi Azad further said with immense growth and progress, the country needs to battle the rising challenges of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

He said that in the present-day scenario, the challenges of ICMR have increased to a great extent.

“Today’s ICMR not only needs to research about the diseases which emerge from the country and find their diagnosis and cure, but it also has the responsibility of researching and providing diagnosis for old and new diseases emerging across the globe. So, their work of health research is full of challenges,” said Azad.

ICMR is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research. (ANI)