ICMR High Altitude Medicine Centre to Come Up at Keylong

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers Jagat Prakash Nadda performed the Bhumi Pujan and laid the foundation stone of the ICMR Centre for High Altitude Medicine and Public Health Research at Keylong, Himachal Pradesh, on 12 October 2026. The centre is meant to build India's own scientific evidence on the health problems of people who live in the Himalayan region and of personnel posted at extreme altitudes.

What the centre will study

The research will cover the health effects of low oxygen, extreme cold and changing climatic conditions, along with altitude-related risk, acclimatisation, maternal and newborn health, child growth and nutrition, and disease patterns in Himalayan communities. It will also test how new technology can extend care in hard-to-reach places, including drone-enabled medicine delivery, digital health and artificial intelligence. The findings are expected to help communities and armed forces personnel in Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Who is building it together

The centre rests on a partnership between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), with AIIMS Bilaspur studying the health impact of high-altitude conditions on patients who come to the region. It grows out of a field station ICMR set up at Keylong nearly a decade ago, and will now be a permanent, year-round institution with modern laboratories and specialist staff.

Who spoke

Union Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth was the Guest of Honour and said joining ICMR's research strength to the armed forces' field experience would produce workable medical answers for extreme-altitude conditions. Dr Rajiv Bahl, Secretary of the Department of Health Research and Director General of ICMR, said Keylong would be a place where the laboratory and the community meet and local people are partners in the research. Air Marshal Sandeep Thareja, DGFMS, said the work would turn research into practical protocols for acclimatisation, early detection and treatment for soldiers in some of the world's most demanding terrain. Jai Ram Thakur, Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly and a former Chief Minister, and Kangana Ranaut, Member of Parliament from Mandi, also spoke, as did Ravi Thakur, a former MLA from Lahaul and Spiti.

Other markers of the day

Mr Nadda and the other guests planted native Himalayan saplings under the Green ICMR Campus Initiative. He opened a scientific exhibition for school students, launched the centre's website and institutional video, and released a commemorative postal special cover. Senior officers of the Armed Forces Medical Services and the Indian Air Force, scientists, Panchayati Raj representatives and local residents attended the ceremony.