Amidst rising concerns of trust deficit between the patients and healthcare service providers, various healthcare providers united and pledged to be part of the FICCI Code of Ethics for Health Services Industry, released on Thursday.

The FICCI Code of Ethics was released by the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Mr J P Nadda and Member (Health) NITI Aayog, Dr V K Paul, during the inaugural session of the 12^th edition of FICCI’s annual healthcare conference- FICCI HEAL. The Declaration of the Code was handed to the endorsing associations by the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ms Anupriya Patel, during the 10^th FICCI Healthcare Excellence Awards ceremony, yesterday evening.

Recognising the need for transparency and accountability in the overall functioning of the healthcare establishments, the Code has been developed as a result of an extensive consultation with various stakeholders including Government and the private sector.

Mr. J P Nadda in his address said, “the release of this Code is very appropriate and timely as the country moves towards the launch of Ayushman Bharat, which will require an effective collaboration between the government and private stakeholders. The Code addresses the fundamental challenge of accountability both at individual and industry level and should be adopted by all.”

Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Government of India appreciated the industry’s endeavour towards self-regulation and said, “I am happy to see that the Code covers several aspects of ethical conduct including patient centricity, privacy and confidentiality, bribery and grievance redressal.”

The Code, which encourages members to voluntarily and collectively commit to ethical professional conduct for patient care, is applicable to healthcare professionals, service providers, diagnostic centres and other healthcare institutions operating in India.

Dr Alok Roy, Co-chair, FICCI Health Services Committee and Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals said, “already 7 other Associations, with more than 30,000 institutional and individual members; and more than 15 healthcare organizations from across India, have endorsed the FICCI Code of Ethics. However, this is just the beginning of our journey to propagate the Code to a large number of healthcare service providers across the country.”

Being instrumental in developing the Code, Dr K K Agarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India and Immediate past President, IMA, said, “in case of healthcare, in addition to being scientifically correct, providers have an equally important responsibility to maintain moral and ethical conduct.”

This voluntary Code can be used as a yardstick by the health service providers for their day to day conduct and interactions within the healthcare community as well as with patients.