Amidst rising concerns of trust deficit between patients and healthcare providers, various healthcare associations united for the release of FICCI Code of Ethics for the Health Services Industry. The code was released by the Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda and member (Health) NITI Aayog Dr VK Paul, during the inaugural session of 12th edition of FICCI’s annual healthcare conference- FICCI HEAl. Declaration of the Code was handed to the endorsing associations by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel.
The code has been developed as a result of extensive consultation with stakeholders from the Government as well as the private sector. It encourages members to voluntarily and collectively commit to ethical professional conduct for patient care, is applicable to healthcare professionals, healthcare providers, diagnostic centres and other healthcare institutions operating in India.
Dr Paul 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.”
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.