Dr. Raj K. Manchanda, the former Director General of CCRH , was bid farewell on 2nd July’2019 by CCRH. Under his mentorship of 7 yrs., Council reached newer heights and the bench marks he has set for the organization will be difficult for anyone to surpass.
As we pendown the achievements of this industrious, farsighted and innovative leader, we see that his contributions to the successes of CCRH are commendable.
As a academician, Dr. Manchanda was the Co-Chairman, Drug Technical Advisory Board, Government of India ; Member-Secretary, Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia Committee (HPC), Government of India ;Secretary for Research – Liga Medicorum Homoeopathica Internationalis; Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Delhi Homoeopathic Anusandhan Parishad.
If we look at the infrastructural strengthening of the Council , the Clinical Research Unit at Agartala was upgraded to Regional Research Institute for Homoeopathy, and made functional after inauguration on 11th September 2017. Central Research Institute of Homoeopathy, Kottayam was upgraded to National Homoeopathy Research Institute in Mental Health (NHRIMH). Central Research Institute (H), Pratap Nagar, Jaipur and Dr. D.P. Rastogi Central Research Institute of Homoeopathy at Noida, U.P. were inaugurated with development of Pharmacology, molecular microbiology and Zebrafish lab./Drug standardization laboratories
For the conduction of cutting edge researches, a Virology laboratory has been setup by Central Council for Research in Homeopathy at Dr. Anjali Chatterjee Regional Research Institute(H), Kolkata (Sept 2017) for undertaking basic research studies in virology. Establishment of Cancer Clinic For Integrated Patient care in 02 allopathic Hospitals, Construction of rigid poly house at CMPRH, Ooty, Tamil Nadu ,Foundation stone laying ceremony of RRIH Mumbai, Establishment of Fundamental Research Lab. In IIEST, Kolkata and Land acquisition at Kottayam, Shimla for CCRH centres are amongst other credits to his cart.
ISO 9001 certification of CCRH headquarters was a diligent effort undertaken by Dr. Manchanda.
During his era, Council became a collaborator at national and international level with many Institutes of repute. At national level, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with 30 homoeopathic medical colleges across the country and Research based OPD was initiated with medical colleges at Jaipur, Bhopal. At international level, Council signed 10 MoUs with organizations in USA, UK, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Germany & Israel.
Dr. Manchanda was a Hi tech person and aspired the Council to be digitized and tech equipped. Computerised patient registration data was digitized at all other institutes as per the international classification of diseases (ICD-10), web based specific research modules, in collaboration with RADAR &Vithoulkas Compass were developed. Intitiation of Webinars, Mobile apps for collecting field data from epidemics, Implementation of AYUSH Hospital Management Information System (A-HMIS) in three institutes of the Council viz., National Homoeopathy Research Institute in Mental Health (NHRIMH), Kottayam, Dr. D.P. Rastogi Central Research Institute of Homoeopathy (DDPRCRIH), Noida and Regional Research Institute for Homoeopathy, RRI(H), Gudivada which have been taken on board, Development of web based programs for epidemic management studies and Development of NABH accreditation guidelines for homoeopathic hospitals are some of the examples of his digitization skills.
Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy , the peer reviewed journal of the Council became online and open access with his constant pursuance.
During this tenureship, Council reached newer heights in all the arenas of research.
In clinical research, CTRI registration of all new studies was done with 30 new clinical studies undertaken, 18 studies concluded and 18 published. The outcomes of these research studies were published in national and international journals. Development of STGs in Homoeopathy on 35 studies and Research based compilation of OPD data on standardized assessment scales i.e. MYPMOP and ORIDL.
In Fundamental research, 22 studies have been undertaken and 4 nosodes have been developed.
In the Drug standardization , Development of Agro-Techniques for exotic Homoeopathic Medicinal Plants for use of farmers. Development of Central Repository for medicinal plants used in homoeopathy and animal house at CRI Noida. Harmonization of Homoeopathic pharmacopeias with HPUS as per International guidelines; Revision of HPI to revise/update processes and parameters considering development in physics, chemistry and biology and harmonizing them for international acceptance; Development of guidelines for inclusion of new drugs in Homoeopathy ;National level meet with homoeopathic pharmaceutical companies and 04 patents filed.
In clinical verification, Development of protocol with standardized guidelines and outcome assessment parameters; Analysis of clinical verification data using likelihood ratio and population symptoms prevalence studies; Drug validation :80 classical drugs from list of Essential Drug list in Homoeopathy on principles using modern statistical concepts.
Programs on Public Health Initiatives is a recent research arena worked upon by CCRH and propagated vigorously by Dr. Manchanda. Under the program on “Homoeopathy for healthy child, home based care through ASHA workers. The program was initiated in 2015 in 10 blocks of 05 States i.e. Assam, Delhi, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. 78891 children have been benefitted. Under the the program on “Swasthya Rakshan program”, an ongoing outreach activity in 55 villages/ urban colonies was initiated in 2015. 9627 camps have been conducted & 532334 patients have been benefitted, under the program on Integration of Homoeopathy in National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases & Stroke (NPCDCS): implemented in Sept. 2015 at Krishna (AP) and February 2016 in Darjeeling district (WB), May 2017 at Sambalpur (Odisha) and Nashik (Maharashtra). 1,90,225 patients benefitted.
In the area of Epidemics, amongst the clinical and preventive studies, 05 studies on Dengue, Encephalitis, Influenza and Filaria have been conducted; Basic research studies on Dengue and Japanese encephalitis have been initiated and a software has been developed for capturing the data on epidemics.
Dr. Manchanda has authored many publications. As Secretary Research, he published a book for LMHI on Scientific Framework of Homoeopathy, authored 35 Research papers in peer reviewed international journals; authored text book of Dermatology for Homoeopaths (English & Spanish) and was Editor-in-Chief Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy (IJRH).
To enhance the career prospects in the budding homoeopaths, he initiated online submission and review of Short-Term Studentship in Homoeopathy (STSH) program and MD scholarship program.
Lastly, his quality of being an entrepreneur, was exhibited through the successful organization of two international meets of World Integrated Medicine Forum with Pharmaceutical industry representatives and other stakeholders. In his tenure, he organized four International Scientific Conventions on World Homoeopathy Day (10th April) in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019
This visionary man is an ardent fan of yoga and on every international yoga day the whole Council along with him participated and practiced yoga at public platforms.
CCRH will be indebted towards the untiring efforts of this innovative and farsighted vision.
Now he is reaching Delhi Secretariat to join some new and challenging assignment.
He thanked everyone who made my tenure at CCRH meaningful.
