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The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Friday (May 6) unveiled a self-regulatory code of conduct for ediagnostic platforms in India.

The code of conduct aims to ensure self-regulation of the space and enable standardisation of services across the industry. Besides, it is also intended to streamline quality maintenance across the board among diagnostics companies and startups in the country.

The code of conduct was launched in a virtual event attended by Manmeet Nanda, joint secretary in the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).. 

“Self-regulatory code of conduct for ediagnostics which was prepared after several rounds of industry consultations by FICCI’s epharmacy working group aims to ensure adherence to the highest professional standards while delivering quality ediagnostic services till last mile in a safe and compliant manner,” FICCI said in a statement.

The Code Of Conduct

FICCI has called on ediagnostic firms to adhere to all regulatory norms and standards applicable in their respective states of operation. In addition, the code of conduct requires the platforms to process patient data as per local applicable laws. They will also have to ensure that equipment of required technical specifications is used while collecting samples and during the entire course of operations.

The code of conduct also underlines the responsibilities of technology platforms listing medical laboratories. All member platforms would be required to ensure transparent listing of labs on their platforms. They will also have to provide detailed information about laboratories and test details to support ‘informed decision making by customers’. 

The code also calls on the platforms to build a documented procedure for selecting and evaluating labs. Besides, the members will have to define all standard operating procedures (SOPs) around parameters such as sample collection, transportation and storage to ensure standardisation of services. 

FICCI has also urged member ediagnostic platforms to put systems in place to monitor turnaround time (TAT) breaches and to address customer grievances. 

The industry body also asked the ediagnostic platforms to support various public initiatives of the government.

According to an Inc42 report, the Indian eHealth market is expected to reach the $10.6 Bn mark by 2025. However, it would be just 1.6% of the total addressable healthcare market which is pegged to reach $638 Bn by 2025. 

According to another report, India’s diagnostic labs market is expected to grow to $25.66 Bn by 2027 at a CAGR of 11.65% between 2023 and 2027.

An Inc42 analysis also found that India was home to around 5,295 healthtech startups at the end of 2020 and the number has grown manifold since then. The ediagnostics space in India has players such as  MediBuddy, NetMeds, DiagRight, Flebo, among others. 

The segment has seen a major uptick in the last few years, buoyed mainly by the COVID-19 pandemic and increase in demand for home-based sample collection. In April, Spicejet promoter Ajay Singh invested in diagnostics startup Flebo. In January this year, MediBuddy also launched a new vertical catering to phlebotomists to ramp up its presence in the ediagnostics space.