Industry update: Constitution of Medical Device related adverse Event Committee in Medical Colleges

The National Medical Commission (NMC) public notice, dated July 13, 2025, addresses the monitoring, assessment, and prevention of adverse events associated with medical devices through the constitution of a Medical Device related Adverse Event Committee (MDAEC) in each medical college.

Here’s a breakdown of the advisory:

Intent of the Advisory:

The core intent of this advisory is to enhance patient safety and improve the quality of healthcare delivery by systematically collecting, analyzing, and responding to adverse events related to medical devices. It acknowledges that medical devices are crucial in modern healthcare but can cause harm, necessitating a robust monitoring system. The advisory emphasizes the integration of medical colleges into the Materiovigilance Programme of India (MvPI), launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), to monitor these adverse events and risks nationwide. This program aims to provide data to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) to support regulatory action and guide improvements in clinical practice.

Role of Medical Colleges:

Medical colleges are identified as ideal hubs for Materiovigilance due to their diverse patient populations and access to advanced healthcare technologies.

The advisory outlines several strategic advantages for medical colleges becoming a Medical Device Adverse Events Monitoring Centre (MDMC), including:

Academic Recognition: Enhancing the institution’s stature as a contributor to national public health and regulatory science.
Professional Development: Providing faculty and students hands-on exposure to post-market surveillance, risk assessment, and patient safety.
Infrastructure Enhancement: Gaining access to MvPI resources, training modules, and national-level collaboration.
Policy Influence: Offering opportunities to contribute to evidence-based recommendations and medical
device regulations.
Patient Safety: Ensuring early detection and response to device malfunctions, directly improving clinical outcomes.

Key Directives for Medical Colleges:

The advisory mandates the following actions for all medical institutions:

Establishment of MDAEC: Each medical institution is advised to set up a committee to monitor adverse events related to medical devices.
Registration with IPC: This committee must be registered with the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC). The enrollment form is available on the IPC website.
Website Disclosure: The medical institution’s website must indicate the name of the Coordinator/Convenor and additional members of the committee.
Chairperson: The Medical Superintendent will ordinarily be the Chairperson of this committee.
Registration Date: The website should also indicate the date of MDAEC registration.
Pharmacovigilance Committee Update: Institutions are also reminded to update the names of Pharmacovigilance Committee members on their website.

Timeline: This process has to be completed before July 31, 2025.

Source:https://www.nmc.org.in/MCIRest/open/getDocument?path=/Documents/Public/Portal/LatestNews/Public%20Notice%20dt%2013-07-2025.pdfhttps://www.nmc.org.in/MCIRest/open/getDocument?path=/Documents/Public/Portal/LatestNews/Public%20Notice%20dt%2013-07-2025.pdf

Advisory for Minimum Essentials Fire Safety Measures

NABH – Advisory for Minimum Essential Fire Safety Measures for All Healthcare Facilities

NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals And Healthcare Providers) has issued an advisory recently on Minimum Essential Fire Safety Measures to be followed by healthcare organizations in the country.

This was the advisory for Minimum Essential Fire Safety Measures applicable to Healthcare Units under all schemes of Certification and Accreditation offered by NABH. These guidelines are meant to ensure patient safety and in no way absolves the organization of fulfilling its statutory obligations with regard to fire safety while implementing Certification, Accreditation Programs in the country.

The Advisory has listed out the scenarios where a Healthcare Organisation has Fire NOC, has No Fire NOC in place. The content of the advisory released by NABH is shared below for information purposes :

Advisory Content :

When the Healthcare Facility has Fire NOC in place, advisory calls for health facilities to check on the compliance to the minimum essential home Act/DHO fire safety measures are in place and or functioning.

Advisory says when the Healthcare facilities don’t have Fire NOC , following steps have to be addressed by a healthcare organisation :

  • Approval/Registration from local health authority Eg: Nursing home Act/DHO
  • If Fire NOC is not applicable, organisation has to provide valid justification for the same.
  • If Fire NOC is applicable, confirm that the organization has applied for fire NOC and there is regular correspondence (at least once in three months) with fire department which is acknowledged. Any correspondence received from the fire department has to be submitted.
  • In the absence of Fire NOC, Third Party Inspection Certificate should be made available.
  • The third-party audit should provide evidence to suggest that statutory norms are adhered to Any Observation by the third party should have been addressed.
  • The third-party inspection certificate is valid for a maximum period of one year
  • Head of the organization/Promoter to give an undertaking on the organization’s letter-head stating that fire safety measures are in place and adhered to at all times.
  • During assessment, verify that the points in the checklist are in place and are functioning

*NABH prescribes that Fire & Life Safety Inspection Certificates under NABCB accreditation issued by NABCB accredited Type ‘A’ Inspection Bodies for Fire & Life Safety Inspections of hospitals/health care providers shall be in accordance with the following:
a. National Building Code of India
b. Model Bill to provide for the maintenance of Fire and Emergency service for the state (2019)
c. Respective State Fire Safety Rules
d. NABH accreditation requirements for fire safety and applicable statutes
e. Any other applicable statutes.

Such Fire & Life Safety Inspection Certificates shall be accepted in lieu of statutory Fire NOC, only for consideration for the purpose of NABH accreditation. This does not absolve the hospitals/health care providers from complying to Fire NOC requirements/any other extent applicable statutes. It shall be sole responsibility of hospitals/health care providers to obtain Fire NOC, as applicable.

NABCB accredited Inspection Bodies shall be required to issue a final Fire & Life Safety Inspection certificate under NABCB accreditation bearing NABCB Accreditation Mark after the inspection is carried out and satisfactory corrective action and resolution of non-conformities, if any.

NABH accreditation requirements for Fire & Life Safety : (in addition to above)

  1. Firefighting equipment like wet riser, hydrants, auto sprinkler, fire alarm system, fire extinguishers of all types and sizes should be available as per table below (adapted from NBC 2016).
  2. Operational and maintenance plan for firefighting equipment including refilling of extinguishers.
  3. Up to date fire drawings to be available. Where applicable, the fire drawings should also specify the location of fire dampers.
  4. Fire detection and smoke detectors exist across all floors. The detectors shall be tested for functionality at regular intervals, and records maintained.
  5. Central fire alarm system is installed at a location which is staffed 24/7.
  6. Fire exit plan for each floor. Exit door should be openable and free from any materials which will obstruct way.
  7. Fire Exit signage on all floors well illuminated/ self-glowing, as per NBC guidelines.
  8. Emergency illumination system in case power goes.
  9. Designated place for assembly of patients and staff in case of fire.
  10. Mock fire drill records and schedule of conduct of drills.

Minimum Requirements for Fire Fighting Installations

Advisory can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.

Source of the Information :
https://nabh.co/Announcement/Revised%20Advisory%20for%20Minimum%20Essential%20Fire%20Safety%20Measures%20-20.09.2022.pdf

Above advisory says that Healthcare organisations need to obtain a Fire and Life Safety Inspection Certificates from Third Parties – Type A accredited Inspection Agencies accredited by NABCB in accordance with NBC 2016 and various other Regulations as mandated under various statutes, Rules, laws of centre , state etc

Hospitals , Healthcare Institutions have to look out for Type A Inspection Bodies (IBs) accredited by NABCB if they don’t have Fire NOC to seek Fire and Life Safety Inspections. Type A IBs have to obtain necessary accreditation scope as per various regulatory requirements, standards in the country. These IBs may have to seek accreditation as per IAF Code 34 ; NACE Code 71 which addresses the Inspection of Buildings activities

At the moment NABCB Accredited IBs with above IAF Scope are not found NABCB Registry. Few IBs may seek Accreditation under above scope to cater to the requirement specified by NABH in future. Healthcare organisations have to refer NABCB’s Registry for more updates on the accredited IBs list.

It’s a good move to encourage healthcare businesses to show compliance and adherence to Regulatory, Statutory requirements by offering Safety and Assurance to the users of healthcare facilities and Employees as well.

Conference on Medical Devices

National Conference on “Management & Ensuring Safety of Medical Devices” on 9th July 2022

Objective & Targeted audience:

This training program is organised to sensitise among Biomedical/Service engineers from State/Union territory medical services Corporation, Biomedical engineers working in government/private/corporate sector in southern India, Biomedical engineering students & other stakeholders to initiate the reporting mechanism and to ensure active participation in reporting incidents related to medical equipment.

Delegate Registration Process :
Registration Fee:
For Industry delegates: Rs 2000/-
For Healthcare professionals: Rs 1000/-
For Students & other stakeholders: Rs 500/-

Last date for registration is on or before 20 June 2022 at 5:00 pm

Registration Link –