BHUBANESWAR: India’s health in 2047 will be the key to a Viksit Bharat, said Union minister of state for Science and Technology (independent charge) Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday.
Addressing the national conclave on longitudinal cohort studies (Cohort Connect 2025) at IMMT, he emphasised that India must generate strong, long-term and country-specific health evidence to guide preventive and clinical decision-making. “Indian treatment for Indian patients, Indian prevention strategy for Indian subjects and Indian data for Indian solutions should be the new mantra,” he said.
Dr Singh added that the national cohort’s scope focuses on four critical determinants - health, biological, environmental, genetic and lifestyle factors - each shaped by the country’s extraordinary diversity in diet, environment and genetic makeup.
“Metabolic disorders in India often emerge as clusters of interconnected conditions and cannot be separated from the broader landscape of communicable and non-communicable diseases. The new therapies and modern drugs must be assessed through long-term data. With nearly 70% of the population under 40, India must prioritise prevention, early intervention and technology-driven health solutions,” the minister said.
The Cohort Connect conclave brought together scientists, clinicians, public health experts, and cohort investigators from across the country.
Director of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology Dr Shouvik Maiti said the conclave covered a wide range of themes from harmonised diagnostic assessments, kidney-disease cohorts and celiac-disease biorepositories to birth-outcome research under GARBH-Ini, preterm-birth genomics, Birbhum population project and cardiometabolic cohort. IMMT director Ramanuj Narayan, CCMB director Dr Vinay Nandiguri and ILS director Debasish Dash also spoke.
Two MoUs were signed.While IMMT-Bbs inked pact with Lloyds Metals and Energy Ltd, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra for developing advanced technologies for the benefit of low-grade iron ores, another pact was signed between IMMT-Bbs and Fomento Resources Pvt Ltd for developing, processing and pelletisation technologies for low-grade iron ores.