The Union Health Ministry along with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is working towards establishing Technical Resource Centres (TRC), which are mandated to systematically synthesise and evaluate evidence with the objective of developing and promoting evidence-based guidelines along with enhancing the adoption of these practices in healthcare.
Calling for Expressions of Interest (EoI) from researchers/ faculty/ scientists for the centre, the ICMR noted that each TRC will have financial support of up to ₹20 lakh per year and the duration of the funding will initially be three years, subject to performance reviews, and renewable every year.
The TRC is supposed to conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses to generate high-quality evidence for the development of clinical guidelines, utilising the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach, organise training programmes and workshops to disseminate best practices in evidence synthesis and the application of the GRADE methodology, supporting effective and rigorous guideline development.
Also, regular monitoring visits will be conducted with corrective actions implemented as needed, training programmes are to be conducted at least twice a year, and professional development plans are to be updated annually and manuscripts to be submitted within three months of completion of evidence tables.
According to the communication by ICMR, researchers/ faculty/scientists with regular employment in medical institutes/ research institutes/ universities/ colleges with the required capability, experience and resources (preferably database access) to undertake the assignment, can also apply.
“The application received will go through a review process by an expert committee constituted by competent authority and selected participants will be notified of their selection via email and through the DHR website in September 2024,” it said.
The criteria for evaluation includes expertise in evidence synthesis, infrastructure and resources, publications and collaboration and networking.
