The coronavirus crisis currently shows no signs of receding. Nearly 19,703,102 people across the globe have been infected by Sars-CoV-2 and over 700,000 COVID-19 patients have succumbed to death. The only cure for this infection is a vaccine. And as of now, only three vaccines in the world have made it to the Phase-III of the human trials. These are AstraZeneca, Oxford, and Chinese coronavirus vaccine candidates. While the fate of the world regarding the COVID-19 infections remains unknown, certain agencies feel that collecting more data can help with better management of the infections.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the Union Health Ministry, and the Indian Council of Medical Research have proposed that India start a National Clinical Registry for COVID-19 (NCRC). For this purpose, ICMR wrote letters to COVID-19 dedicated hospitals and healthcare centers inviting a letter of intent on Thursday so as to establish the National Clinical Registry for COVID-19. ICMR said, “There is a pressing need for the collection of systematic data on clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory investigations, management protocols, the clinical course of the COVID-19 disease, disease spectrum and outcome of patients. Such data will serve as an individual tool for formulating appropriate patient management strategies, predicting disease severity, patient outcomes, etc.
ICMR further added to its statement, “In view of this, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH & FW), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi have proposed to launch a National Clinical Registry for COVID-19 (NCRC).” Furthermore, ICMR claims that NCRC will collect real-time data in order to promote the evidence-based clinical practice, research, policy making, and guidelines formulation. In order to kickstart this campaign, ICMR has invited COVID-19 based hospitals and health care centers to register themselves under the NCRC.