Mumbai: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, has issued invitation for Expressions of Interest (EOI) from eligible organizations, companies, and startups for the manufacture of “Non-invasive/minimally invasive hemoglobinometer” devices. These devices are intended to enhance the detection and screening of anaemia, a key national health priority under the Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) programme.
The EOI document outlines qualifications, submission procedures, objectives, and evaluation criteria. Interested parties can download it from the ICMR website at ICMR Website. The submission deadline for proposals is October 30, 2024. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit 5-6 devices for further validation by ICMR.
ICMR has highlighted the AMB programme’s 6X6X6 strategy to reduce anaemia across six target groups, focusing on non-invasive diagnostic tools to ease screening, especially among vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children. The validation of devices developed through “Make in India” aligns with this goal, supporting accuracy and precision to expand anaemia detection.
ICMR will conduct clinical studies to validate these devices, offering technical support for study planning, protocol development, and data analysis. Companies will provide all necessary devices, infrastructure, regulatory approvals, and technical data. Intellectual property rights will be shared, with publication rights and data confidentiality agreements in place.
Anaemia continues to be a major public health problem in the country despite rigorous efforts of the government and comprehensive Anaemia Mukt Bharat programme, as a National Health Programme, being in operation. The prevalence of anaemia among six groups as per the National Family Health Survey 5 (2019-21) is 25.0% in men (15-49 years), 57.0% in women (15-49 years), 31.1% in adolescent boys (15-19 yrs), 59.1 % in adolescent girls, 52.2 % in pregnant women (15-49 years) and 67.1% in children (6-59 months).
AMB programme adopts preventive and curative mechanisms through a 6X6X6 strategy including six target beneficiaries, six interventions and six institutional mechanisms for all stakeholders to implement the strategy. Testing and treatment of anaemia, using digital methods and point of care treatment, with special focus on pregnant women and school- going adolescents is one of the key Anaemia Mukt Bharat strategic interventions. The test and treat strategy, for its effective implementation, requires a simple, easy to use non- invasive/minimally invasive hemoglobinometer which will be acceptable to all, especially young children. Over the past few years, several ‘Make in India’ non-invasive/minimally invasive hemoglobinometer devices have become available. However, these devices need to be validated to establish its accuracy, bias, and precision of the noninvasive point-of- care methods before their use can be recommended in the programme.
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