ABSTRACT
The theme of the 14th World Congress of Bioethics (WCB) was “Health for All in an Unequal World; Obligations of Global Bioethics”. The Parallel Arts Festival was embedded within the programme of the Congress and curated to reflect its theme.
ABSTRACT
On March 6, 2019, a workshop was held as part of a larger public consultation exercise to evaluate the perceptions of participants from diverse backgrounds of studies involving Controlled Human Infection Models (CHIMs) (1,2) in India, through three specific case scenarios. This workshop was organised by the Health and Humanities Division of the St. John’s Research Institute, Bangalore with funding from the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (TSHTI), Faridabad (www.thsti.res.in), an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India This was an on-going effort of the Division to bring public discourse centre stage in the discussion on the use, ethics and regulations related to CHIM studies, and the introduction of such studies in India. Participants included epidemiologists, community/public health experts, microbiologists, infectious disease specialists, basic and translational scientists, ethicists, journalists and lawyers
ABSTRACT
With India only just emerging out of a period of extreme concern and apprehension over clinical trials, the introduction of Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) studies calls for the need to proceed with caution, particularly with regard to protection of participants; especially vulnerable populations. In the Indian context, persons can be vulnerable due to circumstances of poverty, ignorance about clinical research and lack of access to education and healthcare. This paper will look at possible ways to provide protection to participants, starting with review and selection, through the trial period and after it is completed
ABSTRACT
Soon after the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 was approved by the Cabinet for introduction into Parliament in 2016, it was submitted for review to a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. The report of this committee, The 102nd Report on the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 was laid on the table of the Lok Sabha and presented to the Rajya Sabha on August 10, 2017. It contains hearings with stakeholders and witnesses and a review of relevant documents and related legislation. The comments of the Parliamentary Standing Committee are wide ranging and pertinent, seeking to fill the gaps and explain and rationalise the statute and includes responses from the Department of Health Research. This commentary seeks to analyse the recommendations of the Committee, exploring some of the ethical, legal, and social implications of surrogacy arrangements in our country, where diverse viewpoints and strong sentiments can encounter difficult ground realities.
ABSTRACT
The introduction of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 into Parliament, in August 2016, was a much-awaited response to citizen voices and human rights groups calling for action in the unregulated area of commercial surrogacy arrangements. Both houses of Parliament have reviewed the Bill, and its fate was to be decided in the Winter Session of Parliament, 2017. It is still unclear whether the Bill will come up for decision in the Budget Session that will reconvene on March 5, 2018. The market for infertility treatments has attracted to India global clients seeking access to surrogates and procedures at lower costs. The Bill seeks to protect the rights of women and children at risk of exploitation and commodification as third parties in infertility treatments that use assisted reproductive technologies. Can commercial surrogacy be allowed in a country where injustice, inequalities, and poorly implemented laws place vulnerable women and children at risk? The proposed Bill could shut the door on commercial surrogacy arrangements in India and bring regulation into this sector of medical services.
ABSTRACT
engaged in the study of medical and research ethics. The brilliant dramatisation of this story of human loss and gain to humankind by the well-known playwright and actor, Adura Onashile, is an emotional wringer. Onashile’s solo performance in the play, directed by Graham Eatough and produced by Iron Oxide, has kept the audiences riveted.
ABSTRACT
Ethics in medical and health care is a commendable compilation of essays that describe the ethical dilemmas and deficiencies in the healthcare scenario in India with the intention to sensitise all stakeholders to the urgent need for introspection and reform in this sector. It is a documentation of the discussions and presentations at SARATHI 2010, a national conference on ethics in healthcare organised by the University Institute of Applied Management Sciences, Punjab University in collaboration with the Senior Citizens’ Council for Human Resource Development, held at Chandigarh in 2010.