Welcome To Central Council for Research in Homeopathy(CCRH)

The Council

Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) is an apex research organization under Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India which undertakes, coordinates, develops, disseminates and promotes scientific research in Homoeopathy.

The Headquarters of the Council are situated in New Delhi and multi-centric research is conducted through a network of 26 institutes/units all over India.

The Council formulates and conducts research programs/projects; collaborates with national and international institutes of excellence to undertake evidence based research in fundamental and applied aspects of Homoeopathy; monitors extra mural researches and propagates the research findings through monographs, journals, newsletters, I.E.&C. materials, seminars/workshops. Studies comply with the modern scientific parameters and research is undertaken with the goal that the outcome of research translates into practice and the benefit of the research is extended to the profession and the public.

The policies, directions and overall guidance for the activities of the Council are regulated by the Governing body. Hon’ble Minister of AYUSH, GOI presides over the governing body and has general control on the affairs of the Council.

Mode of Formation

The Government of India established a Central Council for Research in Indian Medicines and Homoeopathy (CCRIMH) in the year 1969 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to promote research and development in different Indian systems of medicine on scientific lines. However, with a view to have focussed research in each area of Indian systems of medicine and Homoeopathy, the CCRIMH was dissolved to pave way for the constitution of four separate research Councils, one each for Homoeopathy (CCRH), Ayurveda and Siddha Medicine (CCRAS), Unani Medicine (CCRUM) and Yoga & Naturopathy (CCRYN).

The Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), formally constituted on 30th March, 1978, was set up as an autonomous organization and registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI, 1860. CCRH is fully funded/controlled by the Ministry of AYUSH. The pattern of emolument structure, i.e. pay scales and allowances, Dearness Allowance, House Rent Allowance, Transport Allowances, etc. are identical to those in case of the Central Govt. employees.

Main Objectives

1.To formulate the aims and patterns of research on scientific lines in Homoeopathy
2.To initiate, develop, undertake and coordinate scientific research in fundamental and applied aspects of Homoeopathy
3.To exchange information with other institutions, associations and societies interested in the objectives similar to those of the Council
4.To collaborate research studies with other Institutes of Excellence towards promotion of Homoeopathy
5.To propagate research findings through monographs, journals, newsletters, I.E.&C. materials, seminars/workshops and develop audio-visual aids for dissemination of information to the profession and public.

Other Objectives

6.To finance enquiries and researches for the furtherance of objects of the Central Council.

7.To issue appeals and make applications for money and funds in furtherance of the objects of the Central Council and to accept for the aforesaid purpose gifts, donations and subscriptions of cash and securities and of any property whether movable or immovable.

8.To borrow or raise monies with or without security or on security mortgage charge, hypothecation or pledge of all or any of the immovable or movable properties belonging to the Central Council or in any other manner whatever.

9.To invest and deal with the funds and monies of the Central Council or entrusted to the Central Council not immediately required in such manner as may from time to time be determined by the Governing Body of the Central Council.

10.To permit the funds of the Central Council to be held by the Government of India.

11.To acquire and hold, whether temporarily or permanently any movable or immovable properly necessary or convenient for the furtherance of the objects of the Central Council.

12.To sell, lease, mortgage and exchange, and otherwise transfer any of the properties movable or immovable of the Central Council provided prior approval of the Central Government is obtained for the transfer of immovable property.

13.To purchase, construct, maintain and alter any buildings or works necessary or convenient for the purpose of the Central Council.

14.To undertake and accept the management of any endowment or trust fund for donation, the undertaking or acceptance whereof may seem desirable.

15.To offer prizes and grant of scholarships, including travelling scholarships in furtherance of the objects of the Central Council.

16.To create administrative, technical and ministerial and other posts under the Society and to make appointments thereto in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Society.

17.To establish a provident fund and/or pension fund for the benefit of the Central Council's employees and/or their family members.

18. To do all such other lawful things either alone or in conjunction with others as the Central Council may consider necessary or as being incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above objects.

A glimpse of the activities of the Council

The broad research activities of the Council include 'Survey, collection and cultivation of medicinal plants’, ‘Drug standardization’, ‘Drug proving’, ‘Clinical verification’ and ‘Clinical research’. Other than these the Council is also affianced in fundamental & basic research; public health programmes of national importance; health melas.

Survey, collection and cultivation of medicinal plants

The availability of authentic medicinal plant material is an important basis for Drug Standardisation studies which contributes to the growth of any system of medicine. Around 80% of homoeopathic medicines are derived from vegetable sources. CCRH has accorded due importance to this aspect and has established a medicinal plants research garden and a Survey of Medicinal Plants and Cultivation Unit, which collects raw drug plant material from areas surveyed from all over India. This research unit “Centre of Medicinal Plants Research in Homoeopathy” is located at in Tamil Nadu at Indira Nagar, Emerald Post, Nilgiri District (T.N.). The Centre has conducted 170 surveys and supplied 465 raw drugs to Units for carrying out standardisation studies till August 2016. Read more...

Drug standardization

Drug standardisation encompasses a comprehensive evaluation of the homoeopathic drugs in respect of their pharmacognostical, physico-chemical and pharmacological profiles in order to study the various qualitative and quantitative characteristics of drugs. The Council has undertaken pharmacognostical studies on 297 drugs, physico chemical studies on 304 drugs and pharmacological studies on 149 drugs. The standards laid down are included as monographs in the Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of India. Read more..

Drug proving

Drug Proving, also known as Homoeopathic Pathogenetic Trial (HPT), involves a process in which drug substances are put to trial on healthy human beings and their pathogenetic effects are observed and noted for therapeutic purposes. Being one of the primary research area of the Council since inception, drug proving trials have been conducted at its seven centres and till date about 105 drugs have been proved out of which 15 drugs have been proved for the first time and the remaining drugs have been reproved. Read more..

Clinical Verification

Another mandate of the Council aims to clinically verify the pathogenetic symptoms of the drugs elicited from drug proving and to find out the clinical symptoms so as to determine the therapeutic usefulness of these drugs. The Council has conducted studies on 106 drugs including those proved by the Council and those, which have had fragmentary proving. Read more..

Clinical research

Clinical Research in Homoeopathy helps in generating, validating and consolidating scientific evidences (in terms of safety, efficacy and effectiveness) of homoeopathic medications, procedures and treatment regimes. This may be used in prevention, treatment of various diseases, decision making for stake holders thus improving clinical care. Till date council has conducted 136 studies on various diseases, out of which 121 studies were concluded (106 were observational studies and 15 randomized clinical trials) and 15 studies were withdrawn.

Read more..

Documentation and Publication

The studies conducted in the diverse research areas need to be documented in the form of publications. Documentation and Publication section plays its role at this juncture exemplifying the various activities of the Council through its regular publications: CCRH Newsletter and the open access Journal -Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy (IJRH); books and monographs; IEC material like Handouts etc.
Read more..

Fundamental & Collaborative Research

The Council collaborates with other Institutes of excellence like Bose Institute (Kolkata) and AIIMS (New Delhi) etc. to undertake evidence-based, inter-disciplinary, translational research studies to validate the efficacy/concepts of Homoeopathy on scientific parameters. About 33 studies have been concluded till date and 15 are ongoing. Read more..

Public Health Initiatives

Integration in Public Health Programmes

Government of India decided to launch national campaigns to propagate and promote AYUSH systems in public health with due emphasis on their inherent strengths. Homoeopathy was chosen for its role in mother and child care. National campaign on Homoeopathy for mother and child care as launched in 2007 was a great success, benefitting about 9,12,478 patients. The Council operationalized and coordinated the campaign which was conducted till 2012. Homoeopathic treatment at the grass root level was provided by organizing community awareness camps through CCRH Units/Institutes and Homoeopathic Medical Colleges.

Read more..

Presently, the Council is integrating with National Programme for prevention and control of Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases, Cancer and stroke (NPCDCS), Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) and has developed a public health program on Homoeopathy for Healthy Child which is being undertaken on pilot basis. Read more..

Speciality Clinics

The Council is also devoted to provide quality health care to its patients through some speciality clinics. Presently four speciality clinics namely: ENT Clinic; Rheumatology Clinic; Dermatology Clinic and Lifestyle disorder Clinic are running in various Institutes/ Units which provide personalised treatment and management to patients of the respective diseases only.

OTHER IMPORTANT ACTIVITIES OF THE COUNCIL

Extra- Mural Research (EMR)

The Ministry of AYUSH supports scientists in the country to conduct research in Homoeopathy. The scheme encourages research in high – priority areas to ascertain efficacy of treatment, better understanding of homoeopathic principles and respond to various public health concerns. Under EMR scheme, grant-in-aid is provided to the Institute/organization for carrying out scientific research in Homoeopathy, where the Council provides a supportive role for implementation of the scheme. Till date, 36 studies have been concluded under the scheme and 8 are ongoing. Read more..

Linking research with education

To inculcate research aptitude in students, Council is working in coordination with the academicians and has initiated a scheme of financial grant to students to conduct research as a part of their undergraduate or PG / PhD program.In a step forward, the Council has entered into an agreement and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with interested PG Homoeopathic Medical colleges on collaboration in training & research in identified areas of interest. The vision behind the agreement is to inculcate research aptitude amongst students & faculties by providing technical support for capacity building through training workshops, webinars etc; provide impetus to research infrastructure in the college; establish joint/ collaborative research OPDs in the premises of homeopathic colleges/ institutes; tap the clinical data in research mode in a methodical manner and further take up specific projects as/where feasible.

Read more..

IEC (Health Melas/ Seminars/ Conferences)

The Council participates in Health/Swasthya/ Arogyas Melas and Exhibitions sponsored by Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India with an aim to sensitise the general population about various health topics and also to showcase its activities and achievements in the field of Research in Homoeopathy. Read more..

For capacity building of researchers and to educate the profession about recent advancements in Homoeopathic Research, Research methodology, Scientific writing, Council has been organising CMEs and also has been actively participating in different National and International Seminars to showcase its achievements in the field of homoeopathy. Read more..

Achievement of the Council in terms of its objectives

Since its inception in 1978, the Council has grown significantly and has established itself as a premier research organisation in the country in the field of Homoeopathy as also undertaking disease specific research. Point wise achievements of the Council meeting its objectives are given below in brief:

Objective 1: Formulating and undertaking research on scientific lines in Homoeopathy

The Council has been formulating research protocols as per the guidelines of WHO/ICMR without conflicting the doctrines of Homoeopathy under its various programs of Clinical research; Clinical verification; Drug Proving; Drug Standardisation; Epidemic management and Public Health Programs. Experts from modern medicine and statisticians are also a part of the rigorous work of development of protocols as they go through various levels of approval by the special committee, Scientific advisory committee and Ethical committee.

i) Under Clinical Research program, the Council has traversed a path from long term observational studies to evidence based observational studies and presently Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT), as per the need of the hour. Till date Council has conducted about 138 studies on various diseases, out of which 123 studies were concluded (106 were observational studies and 17 randomized clinical trials). The diseases which have been subject matter of clinical research includes chronic diseases like chronic bronchitis, chronic sinusitis, complications of diabetes, psychiatric conditions (depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, Autism), Benign Hypertrophy of Prostate, Urolithiasis, and acute infection like acute bronchitis, acute sinusitis, Japanese encephalitis, Chikungunya and dengue haemorrhagic fever etc. Further details available at Link

Drug development has been an integral part of the Council’s activities since inception. The council has undertaken pharmacognostical studies on 297 drugs, physico-chemical studies on 304 & pharmacological studies on 149 drugs for laying out standards under drug standardisation studies. Further details available at Link. For maintaining authentic plant source material in fresh and live condition, the Council has established a medicinal plants research garden and a research unit – ‘Centre of Medicinal Plants Research in Homoeopathy’’ which is maintaining germ plasms of 70 exotic medicinal plants which are successfully cultivated. The unit also collects raw drug plant material from areas surveyed from all over India. The Centre has conducted 170 surveys and supplied 465 raw drugs to Units for carrying out standardization studies till date.

ii) Under its drug proving program, the Council has proved 108 drugs till now, out of which 78 drugs are of plant origin, 09 are of animal origin, 01 Sarcodes, 01Nosode and 19 are prepared from chemicals. Out of these 108 drugs, 15 drugs are new and partially proved drugs and proved exclusively by the Council, while the remaining 92 drugs have been re-proved. Further details available at Link

iii) The Council has validated symptomatic data of 106 drugs till date, including those proved by the Council and those, which have had fragmentary proving’s under its flagship Clinical Verification research program. Further details available at Link

iv) The Council has been providing homoeopathic treatment of various epidemics from time to time. (Link) Further, for management of epidemics with homoeopathy, strategy has been developed for undertaking preventive trials for establishing effectiveness of homoeopathy in reducing the intensity of disease/ decreasing the duration of stay in hospital etc. 05 studies on Dengue fever (surveys, preventive trials etc.) have been taken up by the Council since 2005. Details of the same are available under ‘Epidemics’ at Link

v) The Council has also been actively participating in the public health programs. From 2007-2012, the Council and National Institute of Homoeopathy, under the overall leadership of Department of AYUSH, GOI had undertaken a National Campaign on Homoeopathy for Mother and Child Care in India. The campaign sensitized the stake holders viz, policy makers, practitioners of Allopathy and general public through national, state and district level workshops and sensitization programs, about the advantages of using homoeopathy in care of women and children. In the last one year, three programs on public health have been initiated by the Council: National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS), Swasthya Rakshan Programme and Homoeopathy for Healthy Child through intervention of Homoeopathy. Detailed status of the programs are available at Link

Objective 2 & 4: Initiating, developing, undertaking and coordinate scientific research in fundamental and applied aspects of Homoeopathy and undertaking collaborative research studies with other Institutes of excellence towards promotion of Homoeopathy

i) In the past few decades, homoeopathic system of medicine has been able to spark scientific minds to explore the plausibility, action and nature of this system especially on basic and fundamental aspects. This increase in research activity is attributed to clinical efficacy & safety of homoeopathic medicines. Scientists are now keen to undertake experiments to learn the basic nature and action of homoeopathic medicines, which is evident from the growing number of publications every year from various countries. The Council, since its inception has been collaborating with various institutes of excellence to utilize the potential of the best of the brains, in order to yield the maximum results. From 1979-2002 the Council had undertaken research studies with Banaras Hindu University, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Nav-Chetna Drug De-addiction Centre, Varanasi, ICMR etc.

ii) To cater to the growing need of basic research, Council enhanced its initiatives on fundamental and collaborative research since 2005. The main objective of the collaborative studies initiated by CCRH since 2005 is to conduct evidence-based, inter-disciplinary basic research studies and to validate the efficacy/concepts of Homoeopathy on scientific parameters which requires infrastructure and /or expertise not available in the Council. To achieve its aims in this field, Council collaborates with various reputed institutes and has had 30 National and 03 International collaborations. 33 projects have been concluded in this field and 18 are ongoing. Further details are available at Link The outcomes of these studies have enhanced the scientific aspects of Homoeopathy promoting further leading researches by reputed scientific organizations like Bose Institute, AIIMS, School of Tropical medicine etc.

iii) The Council also invites proposals under the EOI scheme in many areas of basic and fundamental research. Available at Link

Objective 3: Exchanging information with other institutions, associations and societies interested in the objectives similar to those of the Council

i) In its research pursuit, the Council is collaborating with international institutes/organizations of repute and has signed MoUs with organizations in USA, UK, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, Armenia, etc. to widen the horizon of utilizing international opportunities for joint research and upliftment of homeopathy.

ii) The Council is also collaborating with many homoeopathic colleges across India providing necessary technical / logistic support to undertake collaborative research on various diseases.

iii) Council has also collaborated with MLD trust, SOUKYA Foundation for pursuing research endeavors in the field of public health initiatives.

Objective 5: Propagating research findings through monographs, journals, newsletters, I.E. &C. materials, seminars/workshops and develop audio-visual aids for dissemination of information to the profession and public

i) Since its inception, the Council has contributed in accumulating scientific knowledge through publication of research results, in both national and peer reviewed journals, which can be used by homoeopathic practitioners as well as general public.

ii) The Council is publishing two types of publications:

Periodicals: Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy (An open access, indexed peer reviewed journal of the Council); CCRH Newsletter; Annual Report; eCHLAS.

Non-Periodicals: Monographs; books handouts etc.

iii) The Council has published 650 research papers, 75 priced publications, 29 non-priced publications, brought out 120 research journals/newsletters, made 03 documentary films and several handouts for use of general public and Homoeopathy professionals.

iv) The Council developed and published Standard Treatment Guidelines of Homoeopathy for the management of 18 disease conditions to improve the success rate of clinical practice.

v) Council developed NABH guidelines for accreditation of Homoeopathy hospitals in collaboration with Quality Council of India for improving quality care of patients.

vi) The Council has developed many training manuals and guidelines for the homoeopathic physicians/ public/ health workers. Details available at Link

CONSTRAINTS

The Council though has been able to meet its objectives in the past; there have been limitations which need to be addressed and can lead to further enhancement of quality research in Homoeopathy:

Enhancement of infrastructure of the Council across India with many Units/Institutes still functioning in rented buildings with limited laboratory support
Recruitment of more allied sciences staff
Development of fully equipped laboratories which will lead to better research studies and decreased expenditure pertaining to outsourcing of investigations
Capacity building of scientists through national and international exposures in the training programs

Future vision/Milestones

CCRH has established itself as an apex research organization in the country as well as one of its kind through continued government support which is dedicated to the cause of research in Homoeopathy and is contributing in the development of homoeopathic science since 1979.
Since inception, it has traversed the path of collecting and generating scientific evidence in different areas of research. Substantial contribution has been made in undertaking quality research and has reached to a point of making its mark in international arena in Homoeopathy. It is on its path to gradually achieve its objectives for which it has been established.
There is ample scope for improvement and to reach to international standards not only in quantity but quality of work too.
There is further need to augment efforts in addressing the health problems through scientific research in areas where conventional medicine has limited role.
Role of Homoeopathy is to be widely explored in integrative medicine for maximum benefit to restore the sick to health.
Leads into fundamental research for mechanistic aspects of ultralow doses of Homoeopathic medicines has opened avenues and for continuing the efforts to collect conclusive evidence. A dedicated lab, has been approved for venturing into this area with full vigor to undertake experimental works.
Use of Homoeopathy in preventive health care is very economical and viable alternative to costly interventions and therefore it is imperative to enhance activities in this area for the benefit of public at large.
Lot of efforts are required for its use in veterinary diseases.

Milestones to achieve/ Future plans:

I. Development of Centers of excellence for undertaking research in Homoeopathy Council plans to strengthen the infrastructure of its institutes by having its own building for undertaking high end research. The institutes will be developed as centers of excellence for undertaking specific research projects such as CRI Kottayam for mental diseases, RRI Gudivada for rheumatological disorders, RRI Kolkata for virology and RRI Agartala for parasitic diseases like malaria.

II. Strengthening Research

1. Addressing issues related to Drug development process:

a) Strengthening of drug standardization laboratories by acquiring modern facilities of international standards for quality and new drug development.

b) 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.

c) Harmonization of Homoeopathic pharmacopeias as per International guidelines Revision of Pharmacopoeias to revise/update processes and parameters considering development in physics, chemistry and biology and harmonizing them for international acceptance

d) Setting-up of Mini In-House Pharmacy for Preparation of Homoeopathic Mother Tinctures

2. Development of State of Art laboratories for undertaking basic research for mechanistic aspects of Homoeopathy at Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (earlier called Bengal Engineering and Science University), Shibpur; IIT, Mumbai ; virology research laboratory at RRI(H) Kolkata; a pharmacology laboratory, a molecular microbiology laboratory as well as a zebrafish laboratory are being set up in Dr. D.P. Rastogi Institute for Homoeopathy, Noida to evaluate the action of homeopathic drugs in various aspects.

3. Undertaking Physicochemical studies: to elicit the nature of homeopathic medicines particularly beyond Avogadro limit,characterization of homoeopathic preparations from different aspects like presence of source substance in homoeopathic potencies and stability studies of homoeopathic medicines.

4. Drug validation of 80 classical drugs from list of Essential Drug list in Homoeopathy on principles using modern concepts and technology.

5. Translating research into public health: The Council aims to develop models of integration and propagate Homoeopathy in various other public health programs of the country. Focus areas include: Pediatric problems, Mental health and NCDs

6. Interdisciplinary and Integrated medicine & economy research- Development of Integrated research module for better outcomes where homoeopathy may be given as an adjuvant therapy with modern system like AES, Dengue, MDRTB, HIV, NCDs etc. Integration of Yoga in homoeopathic research programs.

7. Focusing on diseases endemic in Tribal areas and exploring areas of homoeopathic research.

8. Epidemic research- Council aims to conduct preventive clinical trials in various epidemic conditions like Acute Encephalitis Syndrome /Japanese encephalitis/Malaria/Dengue/childhood diarrhea (specially caused by rotavirus) and hepatitis B.

9. Collaborations with National/ International bodies for focused high end studies: such as National Institute of Immunology, Center for Biological and molecular medicine, Indian Council for Medical Research having specialized infrastructure for immunological diseases for undertaking collaborative research.

10. Linking research with education: Council aims to support students by inculcating research aptitude in them at early stages through Short Term Studentship in Homoeopathy (STSH); MD Scholarship Scheme and PhD Scheme. Also, collaborative research projects shall be taken up with homoeopathic medical colleges and Multi-Disciplinary Research Units (MRU) in Government Medical Colleges are proposed for carrying out research.

Other Central/ State Government organizations undertaking similar functions

No other government organization is undertaking similar functions by the Council in the field of Homoeopathy.

Support/ Funding to scientists for conducting research through Extra Mural Research Scheme: Many public and private organizations, pharmaceutical industries, educational institutions, Universities, hospitals and individuals in India have been also conducting research on their own initiatives over the years. But there were constraints on part of financial requirements. The Ministry of AYUSH has introduced a scheme for Extra Mural Research to tap the potential of these organizations for the research needs of AYUSH sector.

In the context described above the Extra Mural Research Scheme of Ministry of AYUSH is designed to encourage R&D in priority areas based on disease burden in alignment to National Health programme. Monetary grant is provided by the Ministry of AYUSH through this scheme.

CCRH is providing technical expertise and scrutinizing new projects relating to Homoeopathy received for grant-in-aid under this scheme of the Ministry of AYUSH.

HR Status (As on 01.01.2017)


Total number of sanctioned posts, category-wise as on 1.1.2018.	Group A - 127 Group B - 52 Group C - 279 Total - 458
Number of regular employees as on 01.01.2018;	Group A - 112 Group B - 48 Group C - 203 Total - 363
Number of contractual employees as on 1.1.2017	Research Associates/Research Scientists : 54 Senior Research Fellow/Jr.Research Fellow : 107 Consultants : 16 Others (Outsourcing) : 324 Total : 501
Number of employees on deputation as on 01.01.2017	Group A- 01 (from outside organization to CCRH) Group A- 01 (from CCRH to outside organization)