The Department of Health Research was created as a new Department under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare vide Presidential Notification dated the 17th September, 2007 by an amendment to the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. The Department has been allocated 9 new functions to promote health research activities, besides the ongoing work relating to the management and administration of ICMR.
Government of India, in June, 2013, approved the scheme for ‘Establishment of Model Rural Health Research Units (MRHRUs) in 15 States during the 12th plan period as a path- breaking initiative to develop/strength the health research infrastructure in the country to fulfil the newly allocated function of the Department related to the “Promotion, Coordination and Development of Basic, Applied and Clinical Research” in rural areas of most underdeveloped districts of the country.
The scheme has been developed on the model of a functional rural health unit of ICMR at Ghatampur (UP), which has successfully demonstrated how the modern technologies and research, which are struck up at the national level centre’s /Medical Colleges, can be transferred and used in the rural settings for providing better health care to the population.
The MRHRUs are expected to identify research priorities and test solutions in their respective areas and are mandated to transfer the latest technologies in medical research to rural India to address local problems. MRHRU is a tri-partite arrangement between the State, the local Govt Medical College and the ICMR Mentor Institute.
MRHRU Raichur was inaugurated by Dr.V.M.Katoch, the then Secretary to the Govt of India, Department of Health Research on 17th January 2015 at the premises of PHC Sirwar in the presence of dignitaries from the Government of Karnataka, Director and Nodal Officer from ICMR-NITM, (formerly RMRC), Belagavi and elected representatives of the region. The MRHRU initially started functioning upon appointment of the core contractual staff from a room inside the now defunct old PHC building in Sirwar PHC complex. Activities shifted to CPWD constructed MRHRU’s own building on 26th Jan 2020.