MRHRU, MRU at the forefront of public health research
Nodal officers of MRHRU and MRU Dr G Ravi Prabhu and Dr A S Kireeti along with SV Medical College principal Dr P A Chandrasekh-aran speaking to the media in Tirupati on Monday
Tirupati: The Model Rural Health Research Unit (MRHRU) located at Chandragiri near here has been doing pioneering research work in public health issues. To explore more research avenues, it is looking for proposals from interested institutions and universities. Speaking to the media here on Monday, Principal of SV Medical College Dr PA Chandrasekharan said MRHRU is not only associated with SVMC and any other institute can make use of it and do research in the area of public health.
If they send in their research proposals, the screening committee which may meet at the end of July or in the first week of August will consider them and give approvals. The approved projects may also get grants from the MRHRU. He said that it is the only centre in AP which the researchers can make use of.
Similarly, the multidisciplinary research unit (MRU) at SV Medical College has been doing research in the field of non-communicable diseases, cancer and other need based research at the medical college level involving various departments.
Elaborating further the nodal officer of MRU, Dr AS Kireeti said that the unit has so far procured Rs 3.5 crore worth equipment for various research projects and more equipment will be procured based on the requirement. All types of investigations can be done at the MRU now and there are only three other MRUs in the state, at Vijayawada, Kakinada and Visakhapatnam.
During the Covid, the RT-PCR tests were first conducted at MRU only and during April 20, 2022 to March 31, 2022, it conducted 6,82,809 RT-PCR tests out of which 63,605 positive cases were detected.
The nodal officer of MRHRU Dr G Ravi Prabhu said that MRHRU staff are educating the health staff for improving the quality of health services to rural population.
One of the studies on water fluoride levels in Chandragiri has primarily identified fluorosis levels above the normal level which is ongoing.
Another study with 1,800 samples out of the people above 30 years of age revealed that 23 per cent of the people are having high BP while 12 per cent are diabetic. He said that the main objective of the MRHRU was improving the quality of health services to the rural population by creating the necessary infrastructure.