Foundation Stone Laid for ICMR's First High-Altitude Health Research Centre at Keylong

12 October 2026National

Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda laid the foundation stone of the Indian Council of Medical Research's first High-Altitude Health Research Centre at Keylong in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul and Spiti district on 12 October. The centre will study high-altitude medicine - hypoxia, acute mountain sickness, cold injuries and pulmonary and cerebral oedema - and the health problems of people living and working in cold deserts, including troops, pilgrims, trekkers and border populations. It is the country's first dedicated institution of its kind and complements the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research, which handles the armed forces' high-altitude physiology work in Ladakh.

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The Indian Council of Medical Research was founded in 1911 as the Indian Research Fund Association and renamed ICMR in 1949; it is headquartered in New Delhi under the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare | Keylong is the administrative headquarters of Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul and Spiti district | DRDO's Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) is located at Leh in Ladakh

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