KOCHI: For the first time in Kerala, a dissemination programme was conducted by ICMR-DBT on National Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Medical Research at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences.In the panel discussion held as part of the programme, experts from ICMR said any research involving human beings as participants should follow the well-established principles such as absolute necessity of the research, voluntary participation with fully documented informed consent and research that is non-exploitative in nature strictly ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of the participants.
On the part of the investigators, there must be demonstrable commitment for precaution and risk minimization, accountability, transparency and professional competence towards maximization of public interests. Compliance with all regulatory policies and sharing of data through publications adds to the credibility of the whole endeavour. The objective of this programme was to create awareness on the updated ICMR-DBT National Guidelines on ethical research.
The Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetam is presently the number one private university in India as ranked by the HRD Ministry, Government of India.Dr Prem Nair, medical director of Amrita Hospital said, “Amrita Hospital, having grown as a premier tertiary care centre aiming at quality patient care with affordability, considers research as an important tool in its continuous journey towards betterment of patient care.”
Dr D M Vasudevan, ( former principal Amrita School of Medicine and head, PG programmes and research at Amrita), said, “Being part of a university, AIMS encourages all the students to undertake research activities aimed at publishing in reputed peer reviewed national and international journals. The health science campus at Kochi comprising of medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy schools offers enormous scope for integrated learning through research.”