Dr. Prathap Tharyan, Director, South Asian Cochrane Network & Centre, blogs about why it is imperative that the Indian Council of Medical Research renews its national subscription to The Cochrane Library, due to expire on midnight of March 31, 2013.
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The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) created history in February 2007 when India became the first and only low-income country in the world with a national subscription to The Cochrane Library. This initiative of the ICMR to purchase a national license was widely hailed as an exemplar of responsible leadership in health-research governance, as it gave all people in India with an internet connection free access to the online collection of reliable evidence-based resources to aid health decisions. Easy access to trust-worthy summaries that synthesize all relevant evidence, and that is not influenced by the marketing manipulations of drug companies, is the key step in evidence-informed health care; as it facilitates the working together of public and private health providers and their patients to better understand treatment options.
Read more at:
http://evidence-informed-musings.blogspot.in/
Cross posted from Evidence Informed Musings.
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
National free access to The Cochrane Library in India: Freedom may end at midnight…
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The increased use of the resources in The Cochrane Library over the three years of the national provision led to the ICMR renewing the subscription for India-wide free access for a further three years to January 2013. This renewal created history again, since India became the first middle-income country in the world with a national provision; having moved in the interim from being a low-to a middle-income country. The current national provision expired on 31 January 2013, and is up for renewal.
Unless the national license is renewed, before the two-month extension granted by the publishers also expires, people in India will have free access to The Cochrane Library only till midnight on March 31, 2013.
Read more at:
http://evidence-informed-musings.blogspot.in/
Cross posted from Evidence Informed Musings.
