Justice in jeopardy: a qualitative study of institutional ethics committees in New Delhi

Protecting the safety and welfare of clinical trial subjects is the primary responsibility of the multidisciplinary ethics committee. In India, ethics committees have come under increasing criticism for functioning as "secret societies unaccountable to the public" (1). Yet, little effort has been made to undertake qualitative research on the ethics review bodies. This article describes the essential findings of a study that aimed at providing an insight into the structure and functioning of institutional ethics committees (IECs) in selected hospitals in Delhi. Importantly, the study also attempted to investigate the challenges faced by IEC members that pose barriers to IEC performance and thus jeopardise a just and effective system of protection for the human trial subject.