The Union Health Ministry has made audio-visual recording of the informed consent of each subject mandatory in a clinical trial. This is in addition to obtaining his/her written consent.
This decision comes in the wake of the Supreme Court pulling up the Ministry for lack of transparency in clinical trials.In its October 21, 2013, order on a writ petition filed by an NGO, the Swasthya Adhikar Manch, Indore, the court said with respect to five global clinical trials, which was approved by the Drugs Controller-General of India (DCGI) office from January 1, 2013, to August 31, 2013, an appropriate provision should be made or administrative direction issued, ensuring that audio-visual recording of the informed consent process was done and the documentation preserved, adhering to confidentiality principles.
In his order, DCGI G.N. Singh said all sponsors/investigators/institutes/organisations and other stakeholders involved in clinical trials should adhere to this requirement with immediate effect.
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Reacting to this, the Indian Society for Clinical Research — an association of professionals involved in clinical trials — said lack of guidance and direction on operational and logistical issues of managing the audio-visual recording process like the kind of equipment to be used, and where and how information should be stored could leave room for ambiguity and inconsistencies in execution.
More clarity was required on how confidentiality of patients should be protected and maintained in an ‘audio-visual’ context and what processes needed to be followed in instances where, for religious and socio-cultural reasons, patients might not want to be videographed, the association said.