Universal Healthcare to the poorest of poor should be focus of Govt of India “Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director –South East Asia, World Health Organisation

“Research in India is not oriented towards policy making . In India the focus of research needs to be re-oriented . There exists a major gap in policy making and research . The research  should focus towards under-nutrition , anti microbial resistance & health security . We have to focus on implementable research so that it can improve our lives. The researchers in India  should focus on Immunization. India lags behind in comparison to its neighbours in this very important health care need . You should focus on non-communicable diseases which form 60 % of health care problems in India . It is Alcohol , Tobacco , life style & lack of exercise    that are reasons for non communicable diseases . Focus on that . WHO will be happy to support high quality evidence based research programs towards rational policy in healthcare . “ said  Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, South-East Asia of World health Organization (WHO) . She was speaking at inauguration of Stem cell producing facility and research day celebrations at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) today celebrated its Research Day and inaugurated the Department of Research & Library on 18th September 2015. The Chief Guest on this function was  Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, South-East Asia of World health Organization (WHO). The Guest of Honour was Prof. (Dr.) Anil K. Tyagi, Vice Chancellor, Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi .

On this occasion WHO , Regional Director , South-East Asia also inaugurated hospital’s state of art Stem Cell producing facility (c GMP) .

Speaking on the occasion , Dr D.S.Rana , Chairman , Board of Management , SGRH, said , “Our hospital is a multi speciality centre which is well known for its priority on patient care with highest quality. It maintains its excellence in clinical practice by advancing in medical knowledge, accelerating the pace of scientific endeavours to build up biomedical and clinical excellence. To achieve this goal, a major re-engineering of existing skills and system was undertaken. Thus, the genesis of Department of Research. The hospital has been recognized by Scientific and Industrial Research Organizations (SIROs) by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research under the Scheme on recognition of Scientific and Industrial Research Organizations, 1988. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) has been recognized since 2008 by SIRO.”

“We envisage that SGRH will not only become a central hub for healthcare delivery system in the country but also to be a destination for education and research. Our commitment is to have dedicated doctors, nurses and para-medical personnel of high caliber who, with support of the latest technologies, would offer our patients state-of-the-art and evidence-based health care that serves all communities in a caring environment at a reasonable cost.” Dr Rana said.

Dr N.K.Ganguly , Chairman  , Department of Research , SGRH, said, “ cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) facility will currently focus on research . After approval by  Drug Controller General of India (DCGI)  , it will be used to study the safety and efficacy of Mesenchymal stem cell therapy option in diseases like Living donor liver / kidney transplant, Vascular diseases , Diabetes , Orthopaedic and Cardio-Vascular diseases . ”

In our facility Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) will be derived from bone-marrow , Umbilical Cord and fat tissues . MSC  are adult stem cells which  can differentiate into various specialized cell types under certain physiological conditions. Due to the limitation of genetically induced  stem cells  in the clinic, great interest has developed in MSCs, which are free of  ethical concerns . They can be easily isolated from the bone marrow, fat tissue, the umbilical cord, fetal liver, muscle and lung and can be successfully expanded in vitro. They possess self-renewal ability .

To date, the best characterized source of MSCs is the bone marrow (BM) and several clinical as well as research studies have been carried out using these cells. However, processing and harvesting of MSCs from BM has its limitations like lower yield of MSCs e.

On the other hand, other sources of MSCs like Umbilical Cord (Wharton’s jelly) , the tissue that normally is cut-off and discarded post-delivery has a potential to provide an inexhaustible and non-controversial source of stem cells for therapy. MSCs in umbilical cord are a primitive stromal cell population that possess higher proliferative rate and self-renewal capacity than adult tissue-derived MSCs. Sources such as fat tissue and dental pulp have shown similar properties as WJ.

In our facility, we have successfully optimized the isolation, characterization and cryopreservation of MSCs from umbilical cord, adipose tissue and bone marrow. The use of Umbilical Cord  and fat derived MSCs have important advantages. Clinical trial studies have shown MSCs to possess therapeutic capacity to repair blood vessel damage linked to heart attacks or diseases such as critical limb ischaemia. MSCs do not themselves produce blood vessel cells but might support other cells to repair damage.

Other Functions of the Department 

Academic and research activities of the Department of Research include PhD Program, Research Development Program and Young Research Promotion Program. Several Academic awards are also given to our young faculty and students. These are: Best published paper Award, Best Thesis Award, Best Award for publishing in in-house SGRH Journal (Current Medicine Research & Practice, Publisher Elsevier), Travel Grant for student & faculty. An Incentive award is also given to researchers for publishing in high impact factor journals.

The Hospital is recognized by Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), New Delhi, as well as Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi, for PhD program and research collaborations. Most of the PhD scholars are awardees of national fellowships, like CSIR/NET, ICMR and DST-INSPIRE. The collaborating institutions are All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Amity University, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital, New Delhi.

In order to cater to the advancement in medical research, the faculty of the Department of Research conducts several interdepartmental and interinstitutional collaborative projects  to facilitate research in multi-disciplinary areas, such as Blood Transfusion Medicine, Cardiology, Critical Care and Emergency Medicine, Medical and Surgical Oncology, Microbiology, Minimal Access Surgery, Neurophysiology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Surgical Gastroenterology & Liver Transplantation, Neurology, Pathology, Paediatrics and Neonatology, Rheumatology and Urology. Currently, the department is also conducting 13 intramural funded collaborative Clinical research projects with the departments mentioned above.

The Department has received extramural grants for a total of 25 research projects. The funding was received from Government funding agencies (WHO SEARO, NIH, USA, DBT, DST and ICMR) as well as Industry-based funding [Unimark Remedies Pvt. Ltd, Novartis, BD Biosciences, STRANDOMICS (Bangalore), Company, Genzyme (Sanofi, India)]. In addition, International travel grants have been granted for key note address, chairing sessions as well as oral presentations of research findings. The research findings have been published in reputed national and internationals journals with impact factor ranging from

In the future, we plan to extend our collaborations with other national institutions in clinical research areas such as diabetes, inflammatory conditions, neurological degenerative disorders, blood disorders and cancer. Advancing in the areas of stem cell research, our team will undertake clinical phase trials for cell based therapy and marketing of these products.

The Department of Research is headed by Prof. N. K. Ganguly, Former Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi. The Hospital has a very active Research Committee to advise and nurture the vibrant research activities undertaken by the Faculty members. In addition, the academic and research activities of the Department of Research include PhD Program, Research Development Program and Young Research Promotion Program. The Hospital is recognized by Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), New Delhi, as well as Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi, for PhD program and research collaborations. Most of the PhD scholars are awardees of national fellowships, like CSIR/NET, ICMR and DST-INSPIRE. The collaborating institutions are All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Amity University, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Delhi.

In order to cater to the advancement in medical research, the faculty of the Department of Research conducts several interdepartmental and interinstitutional collaborative projects to facilitate research in multi-disciplinary areas, such as Blood Transfusion Medicine, Cardiology, Critical Care and Emergency Medicine,  Medical and Surgical Oncology, Microbiology, Minimal Access Surgery, Neurophysiology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Surgical Gastroenterology & Liver Transplantation, Neurology, Pathology, Paediatrics and Neonatology, Rheumatology and Urology.

The Department has received funding from Government Funding agencies (DBT, DST and ICMR). In addition, International travel grants have been granted for key note address, chairing sessions as well as oral presentations of research findings. The research findings have been published in reputed national and internationals journals, with a high impact factor.

In the future, we plan to extend our collaborations with other national institutions in clinical research areas such as diabetes, inflammatory conditions, neurological degenerative disorders, blood disorders and cancer. Advancing in the areas of stem cell research, our team will undertake clinical phase trials for cell based therapy and marketing of these products.