BS RAWAT
Six months into the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian Council of Medical Research, (ICMR) has finally launched a project to develop a National Clinical Registry Covid-19 to collect standardised data regarding clinical and laboratory features, treatments, and outcomes of hospitalized infected patients in India.

In this regard, the apex health research body has invited dedicated Covid hospitals and health centres in the country to help improve treatment outcomes and analyse trends in the progression of the pandemic.

The objective is to study the frequency, clinical and laboratory features, treatments, and outcomes of Covid-19 related multisystem inflammatory disorder in children and adolescents by analyzing the national registry of Covid-19, the ICMR said in a statement.

"The study will aim at collecting good quality, real-time clinical data to inform evidence-based clinical practice, research, formulating guidelines and policy making," said the letter of invitation.

"ICMR invites a letter of intent from institutions/ hospitals identified as dedicated COVID Hospitals or dedicated COVID Health Centres under the project to establish National Clinical Registry of Covid-19," said the apex health research body.

The duration of the study will be one year and data would be collected from 100 hospitals across the country as part of the project.

The ICMR declared the name of 15 hospitals including Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, which would train and mentor sites from Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand;  AIIMS in Delhi from Delhi and Bihar; AIIMS in Jodhpur would supervise sites in Rajasthan; King George Medical University, Lucknow, from Uttar Pradesh; Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in  Puducherry from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry; and  North-Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, Shillong, would supervise sites from Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.