'Jai Anusandhan': Amrita Hospital to promote research on bioinformatics, integrated medicine

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Jai Anusandhan', a dedicated block at the Amrita Hospital in Haryana's Faridabad will house a nearly 15-tonne electron microscope and promote research in multiple areas, including Artificial Intelligence and integrated medicine, besides fostering collaboration with global institutions.

The 2,600-bed new private hospital complex equipped with cutting-edge technology was on Wednesday opened by the prime minister who has often emphasised on research and innovation as key elements that can take a nation forward.

Amrita Hospital in Faridabad is the second hospital built under the aegis of the Mata Amritanandmayi Math in the country. The first one was set up in Kochi in 1998.

Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandmayi in her address praised Prime Minister Modi for promoting research, especially on the vaccine that India produced to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and which helped save lives of a large number of people.

The seven-storey research block with a total built-up area of three lakh sq ft is located in the sprawling 130-acre campus of the hospital, built over a period of six years with environmental sustainability in mind.  "Besides, providing patinent-centric healthcare to people, there is a major thrust on cutting-edge research too, and hence a dedicated seven-storey block will house multiple segments from different domains," according to Dr Sanjeev K Singh, Resident Medical Director of the hospital.

The research block will have different segments, including a "small animals lab" in the basement, a "biorepository" on one of the floors where blood or other samples drawn from patients can be stored for longer duration in a nitrogen bank environment. This will allod those samples to be studied over a long time, he told PTI.

The block will also house a large capacity electron microscope (weighing about 15 tonne), exhibition of major research globally, including by Nobel laureates, exclusive Grade A to D GMP (goods manufacturing practice) labs, bioinformatics with AI and machine learning, integrated research, and integrated medicine on the top floor, he said.

He added that there will be a focus also on identifying newer diagnostic markers than existing ones.

There will be research in areas of genomics and proteomics, the resident medical director said, who on Wednesday gave a brief outline of the project on the dais in the presence of Modi, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and others during the inauguration event held.  The project was first envisioned in 2012 and the initial plan was to site it in Delhi but eventually it was decided to build it in Faridabad, and its foundation stone was laid by Khattar in 2016, Singh earlier said.

"Our PM talks of 'Jai Anusandhan', so it is in line with that vision too," he said.

Prime Minister Modi in his Independence Day speech on August 15 had made a strong pitch for innovation with the slogan 'Jai Anusandhan' as India marches towards the centenary of its Independence.

Recalling the slogan given by former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Modi noted that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee added 'Jai Vigyan' to it.

"There is one more necessity as we move towards Amrit Kaal – Jai Anusandhan (hail innovation). 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan'," Modi had said in his address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 76th Independence Day.

"To foster research, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (university run under the Mata Amritanandmayi Math), has entered into an ambitious collaborative relationship with Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (HMFP)," a spokesperson of the hospital told PTI. 

Based at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts in the US, HMFP is a world-leading physicians' organisation whose faculty and fellows hold academic appointments with Harvard Medical School and together form a team dedicated to excellence in research, teaching, and patient care, she said. 

"The centerpiece of the relationship is the creation of the International Institute for Health Innovation (II4HI), which will be housed in the campus," the spokesperson added.  The new mega hospital in Faridabad's Sector 88 near Delhi-Mathura Road has a built-up area of one crore sq ft, and the campus will also have a medical college. It has eight centres of excellence in the fields of gastro-sciences, renal sciences, bone diseases and trauma, transplants, as well as mother and child care.

The hospital buildings will span 36 lakh sq ft in built-up area, with a 14-floor tower housing key medical facilities. There is also a helipad facility on the rooftop, officials said.  The hospital built with a patient-centric approach will also have "India's largest facility" to tackle infectious diseases, the spokesperson said.

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