Centre plans to set up National Tribal Health and Research Institute under AIIMS, New Delhi

The Hindu

19-06-2025

The Union government is planning to set up a National Tribal Health and Research Institute (NTHRI) under the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi and there are also plans to hold a competition for the development of drugs to manage Sickle Cell Disease, especially prevalent among certain tribal populations in the country.
These announcements were made by Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey on Thursday (June 19, 2025) at an event to mark the World Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Day at the AIIMS campus here. Mr. Uikey said the competition would be for the Bhagwan Birsa Munda Prize and the winning drug development project would get up to ₹10 crore in funding for taking the drug forward.
At the event meant to mark awareness of SCD, government officials said the Ministry had sanctioned Centre of Competence (CoC) in 15 tertiary care hospitals, including AIIMS, which were meant to provide 'state-of-the-art diagnostics for and management of SCD, including ante-natal diagnosis.'
Course in 'tribal medicine'
Mr. Uikey said there was also a proposal to offer a postgraduate course in 'tribal medicine', which 'aims to address the long-standing health inequities faced by tribal communities'.
The government, in its statement, said the 'specialised course' would be designed to develop a cadre of medical professionals with contextual knowledge, clinical skills and public health competencies 'tailored to tribal settings'.
Ministry officials told The Hindu that the government's efforts to develop a gene therapy for treating SCD were 'progressing on the right path' and was in the trials stage for the time being.
In a statement issued on Thursday (June 18, 2025), the Union government said there was only a single drug available for the management of SCD. 'There is currently no option to select a drug from a spectrum of drugs options for management of a patient, depending on his/her body conditions and severity of the disease.'
'This problem gets augmented in special situations such as pregnancy, other serious medical conditions etc. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of a new drug/s for the management of the disease,' it said on the announcement for the Bhagwan Birsa Munda Prize, adding that the competition for this drug development would be held by the Ministry in collaboration with AIIMS Delhi.
Guide in policymaking
On the setting up of the NTHRI, the government said this institute was meant to be an 'advanced research centre for diseases particularly predominant among tribal people'. It would be expected to guide the government in policymaking in addition to its functions as an outpatient/inpatient facility for providing 'highest quality medical care to tribal people'.
Currently, the Tribal Affairs Ministry's guidelines for managing SCD cases amongst tribal populations entailed a process involving screening, management and counselling. Under the government's programme run in collaboration with the Health Ministry, over 5.8 crore people had been screened for SCD across the 17 target States for SCD mission.
Of these, about 16.38 lakh people or close to 2.82% were found positive for SCD traits and a total of about 2.1 lakh people were found to be having Sickle Cell Disease. The proportion of people identified with SCD comprise about 0.36% of total screenings.