KARACHI, Feb 17: The National Bioethics Committee, notified by the government two years back, is in fast process of finalizing a draft legislation focussed at issues related to ethics in medical research, clinical trials and patients care in all relevant public/private sector institutions, across the country.

The director-general of the federal health ministry, Dr Abdul Majid Rajput, told newsmen following the inauguration session of the Seventh Global Forum for Bioethics in Research, held at Aga Khan University here on Friday.

He said that the National Bioethics Committee (NBC) with its secretariat at the Pakistan Medical Research Council was constituted in January 2004. It comprises 20 members including scientists, researchers, health care professionals, jurists, social activists and health department officials.

This was after a series of debates and discussions that the NBC has formulated a set of recommendations, expected to be presented to the government by the end of March, subsequently paving way for fitting legislation to address most pertinent issues linked to the public safety.

Responding to a question Dr Rajput said that the government was particularly keen to have “hospital-based ethics committee” in both the private and public sectors across the country to contain reported instances of patients’ rights violation.

The government is fully conscious of the fact; he said adding that the NBC had therefore an agenda that encompasses mechanisms protecting patients’ rights at hospitals across the country coupled with standardized guidelines for all researchers engaged in analysis and experimentation in the fields of therapy and health care.

There are three committees of the NBC, each one of these is working to develop standardized guidelines for hospitals; medical researchers engaged in studies or clinical trials and rights of people involved in these research activities.

Dr Rajput acknowledging the significance of incorporating ethics into medical curriculum said that it was a few months back that the Federal Health Department in coordination with the Institute of Ethics Review Committee organized a workshop.

Teachers representing 15 different medical schools took part in it while some eight of these institutions have formulated their relevant suggestions, already received by the ministry, he informed.

He expressed his reservations over the PMDC policy, under which more than half of the private sector institutions were extended provisional recognition.—APP