New Delhi: Union Health Minister, JP Nadda is set to lay the foundation stone of the ICMR Centre for High Altitude Medicine and Public Health Research at Keylong in Lahaul & Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh, on 11 July, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said in a press release.
The centre upgrades ICMR’s existing field station at Keylong into a full-fledged, multidisciplinary hub for research, innovation and capacity building focused on India’s high-altitude and climate-sensitive regions, according to the ministry.
The ministry said, “The Keylong centre will generate context-specific scientific evidence and scalable solutions across a wide research mandate: high-altitude physiology and acclimatisation, mountain medicine, climate-sensitive and emerging diseases, infectious and non-communicable diseases, maternal and child health, nutrition, mental health, environmental and occupational health, and disaster medicine.”
“It will also integrate digital health platforms, telemedicine, drone-enabled healthcare logistics and real-time public health surveillance to improve delivery in hard-to-reach areas,” it added.
According to the ministry, the centre will have year-round access to high-altitude and tribal populations in a strategically important border region, enabling long-term cohort studies and field research on environmental determinants of health.
“It is expected to support national priorities in tribal health, disaster preparedness and digital health innovation, while feeding into global research on high-altitude medicine. The Centre will build institutional collaborations with the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Himachal Pradesh Government, and academic and research institutions in India and abroad, creating an ecosystem for translational research and policy support.” it said.
