On 12 November 2015, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged the valuable work of one of iDSI’s partners, NICE International in a joint statement. The following except from the statement relates to NICE International’s collaboration with the Indian council for medical research (ICMR), and the Department of Health Research, India, as part of the extensive bilateral cooperation in the health sector:

“The two Prime Ministers welcomed the cooperation in the health sector between the two countries and the on-going Memorandum of Understanding covering areas including Medical Education and Training, Universal Health Coverage, containment of Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), improving patient safety through quality, safe and efficacious drugs and the collaboration between NICE International, UK and the Department of Health Research in India on medical technology assessment.”

The Memorandum of Understanding between NICE and the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India referred to in the statement  was signed in 2013  and has resulted in  several collaborative activities, including a study visit to NICE from ICMR  staff and  relevant policy makers. One particularly important event was an iDSI organised high level policy workshop in New Delhi in October 2014. Here representatives from NICE International, in partnership with representatives from other iDSI partners such as HITAP (Thailand), the Center for Global Development, and the CNHDRC (China) raised awareness of, priority-setting and health technology assessment as tools to help make better decisions for health and enhance the drive towards Universal Health Coverage in India.

NICE International continues to work with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to explore options and build institutional capacity for establishing health technology assessment and standard treatment guidelines. Looking to the future, India will continue to be a key iDSI partner.