The FMES-IJME has been working for over 29 years towards bringing ethical concerns in healthcare to prominence and inculcating ethics in healthcare practices and policies. It has organised eight biennial National Bioethics Conferences (NBCs) starting from 2005 and linked up with healthcare institutions and policy makers to create a space for public deliberation on ethical healthcare with the participation of people and civil-society organisations. Numerous individuals and organisations have, over the years, with their dedication and collective efforts, made ethics a part of the public discourse on healthcare practices, research, and policy in India.
At present, there are insufficient avenues to recognise and honour individuals for their contribution to healthcare ethics and bioethics in India. The FMES-IJME has, therefore, decided to institute a regular bioethics award that could help encourage role models for the practice of ethics in healthcare. One or more such bioethics awards will be conferred every two years, at the opening plenary session of the NBC.
This award is supported by the Elsevier Foundation.
Selection committee
The selection committee will have three members, who may each have a different background: (a) clinical practice expert; (b) public health practice/activism expert; and (c) non-medical person or person active in a civil-society organisation for bioethics, healthcare rights, and patient and consumer interests. (At least one if not two of them will be women.)
The selection work will be non-remunerative, but the committee members will be provided with compensation for travel and accommodation and granted free registration for participation in the NBC/WCB, including preconference workshops/symposia.
Conflicts of interest and its management
The following persons, or persons associated with* them, are prohibited from making nominations and/or interacting with the selection committee in the selection process:
- Managing Committee members of the FMES
- Editor and Working Editors of the IJME
- Sponsors of the award
The members of the selection committee are disallowed from nominating themselves or persons associated with them for the award.
*Association includes family ties, close personal friendship, shared departmental/institutional affiliation, and collaborative work in the past five years
Rules and regulations
- The Award Selection Committee (ASC),
- holds the right to reject any nomination if false/misleading information has been submitted in the process
- may not consider or be responsible / held liable for incomplete/incorrect applications forms or forms submitted after the call closes
- is the sole entity responsible and may employ its discretion to assess entries for any disqualification on a case-by-case basis
- has the right to ask for proof of information provided in the nomination forms; if such a request is not complied with, the applicant/nominee could be disqualified
- will make, during Round 1, the best efforts possible to contact the applicants/nominee but shall not be responsible if the person is not contactable, does not participate, or does not agree to the conduct of the verification
- is the sole body with which the final decision in this matter rests
- The decision of Award Selection Committee (ASC), is final and binding on all applicants/nominees and no correspondence will be entertained on the matter.
- Nominees and winners permit free-of-cost the use of their name and factual information about their application and entry(s) in the public media (for the buildup to the Awards, during the Awards ceremony, and so on).
- Applicants/nominees and winners permit the FMES-IJME to use the information provided by them in the application form(s) for sharing and posting on the FMES-IJME website; Congress website; and other dissemination materials, such as brochures, flyers, and pamphlets about the Awards.
- Additions, deletions, and/or modifications to these rules and regulations are at the discretion of the Award Selection Committee (ASC), which may make such additions/deletions/modifications at any time.
- Costs of participation (travel and stay) in the Awards will be borne by the FMES-IJME for the finalists (one member only), and unless specifically conveyed in writing to the applicant, should not be construed otherwise.
If applicants are unclear as to the rules or any element of the Awards, or experience difficulties of any kind, they can address their questions, problems, or queries to, Shri Mahendra Shinde, Awards Secretariat Coordinator, at [email protected]
The inaugural FMES-IJME Ethics Award 2018
The inaugural award was conferred on December 5, 2018 at the 7th National Bioethics Conference, jointly organised with the International Association of Bioethics’ 14th World Congress of Bioethics, from December 5 to 7, 2018, at St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bengaluru.
We were honored to confer the award to Sr Aquinas Edaserry.
