New Delhi: The overall research output from Indian medical institutions is “poor” and 332 medical colleges did not have a single publication between 2005-2014, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

“As per a recent study titled ‘The Research output from Indian medical institutions between 2005 and 2014’ published in the journal ‘Current medicine research and practice’ in its latest issue of 2016, only 25 (4.3 per cent) institutions produced more than 100 papers a year but their contribution was 40.3 per cent of the country’s total research output. 332 medical colleges did not have a single publication during this period.

“The overall research output from Indian medical institutions is poor,” Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel said in a written reply.

She said the Indian Council for Medical Research has not undertaken any study to find out the reasons for lack of original research work by medical colleges and institutions.

She said to promote health research at the grassroot level and to strengthen health infrastructure, Department of Health Research has initiated five schemes which includes establishment of multidisciplinary research units in government medical colleges, establishment of model rural health research units in states, among others.

DHR, she said, provides support in the form of grant in aid for carrying out research studies to identify existing knowledge gaps and to translate existing health leads into deliverable products.