Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Sept 15: To speed up the clearance of the non-funded and non-clinical research carried out in various institutions in Kashmir, the Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar has now constituted an Institutional Review Board (IRB) in addition to its already existing Institutional Ethics Committee (ICE).
The delay caused in the clearance of student research and other non-clinical researches due to the stringent guidelines of the ICE has prompted the authorities at GMC, Srinagar to come up with the IRB under which such kinds of projects will be reviewed, evaluated and then cleared in accordance with the guidelines.
The IRB formed will be headed by Prof. (Dr.) Masood Tanveer Bhat, Professor & Head Deptt of Medicine, GMC, Srinagar who will act as the Chairman, while as Prof. (Dr.) Arshad Hussain, Professor Deptt of Psychiatry, GMC, Srinagar will act as the Member Secretary of the Board.
The members who the GMC said have already furnished their consent for the same include Dr Waseem Qureshi Registrar Academics GMC, Sgr, Prof (Dr.) Omer Javed Shah Prof. & Dean SKIMS, Soura, Srinagar, Prof. (Dr.) Mufti Mehrnood HOD Surgery, GMC, Srinagar, Prof. (Dr.) Iffat Hassan Shah HOD Dermatology, GMC, Srinagar, Prof (Dr.) Anjum Farhana HOD Microbiology, GMC, Srinagar, Prof. (Dr.) Sheikh Bilal HOD Pathology, GMC, Srinagar, Prof. (Dr.) Sajad Ah. Dar Prof, (Dr.) Shaheen Shahdad, HOD Anatomy GMC, Srinagar, Prof. (Dr.) Parvaiz Ah. Kaul Prof & Head Deptt. of Medicine SKIMS, Soura, Srinagar, Prof. (Dr.) Rukhsana Najeeb Prof & Head Deptt of Anaesthesiology GMC, Srinagar, Prof (Dr.) Muzaffar Jan Prof & Head Deptt of Pediatrics GMC, Srinagar, Dr Sameena Hakak HOD Pharmacology, GMC, Srinagar, Dr S. Salem Khan Prof & HOD SPM, GMC, Srinagar, Dr Altaf Kawoosa Prof Orthopaedics, GMC, Srinagar and Dr Manzoor Lattoo Associate Prof ENT, GMC, Srinagar.
Dr Arshad Hussain, Member Secretary of IRB told Excelsior that for the clinical and funded projects, the research has to be first approved and for that IEC is already there. “But the projects that are different from these were also put in front of the IEC and their clearance used to take time and in order to get away with that the IRB has been constituted,” he said.
He said that the IRB will now review the PG research including that of the PhD students in Universities, apart from that, around 150 PG synopsis will also be reviewed that are produced annually.
It is to be noted here that IRB is a competent body to review, evaluate and decide on the scientific and ethical merits of research proposals. The basic responsibility is to ensure a competent review of all ethical aspects of the proposals received.
“Almost every institution in the country evaluates the non-clinical, non-funded research projects through a committee which is in addition to the Ethics Committee and the formation of the IRB at GMC, Srinagar is a step in the direction to make the evaluation of such researches easy and speed up the clearance of the same,” Dr Arshad said.
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