Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal data collected, used, retained or otherwise processed by the Educational Society of Bedside Intensive Care Medicine through the ESBICM website (esbicm.org), the ESBICM Discussion Board (now an archive, closed to new registrations), The ICU App and its Community, the Mentorship Forum, the ESBICM Café, The ICU Channel on YouTube, the ESBICM channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, X and other social-media platforms, the ESBICM Newsletter, ESBICM courses and webinars, and any other digital service, channel, platform or communication operated under the ESBICM name, whether existing today or established in future (together, the "Service").

This Privacy Policy forms part of, and should be read together with, the ESBICM Terms of Use, the ESBICM Disclaimer and the ESBICM Paid Services & Refund Policy.

1. About this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data ESBICM collects when you use the Service, why we collect it, how we use it, how long we retain it, who can see it, and what rights you have over it. Our practices comply with the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, of India.

2. Who We Are

ESBICM ("we", "us", "our") is the Educational Society of Bedside Intensive Care Medicine — a registered, non-commercial educational society founded on 11 October 2018 by Dr Ankur Gupta, Intensivist. ESBICM is headquartered at GG-37, Scheme No. 54, Vijaynagar, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 452010, India.

For the purposes of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, ESBICM is the Data Fiduciary in respect of personal data collected through the Service.

The Grievance Officer for all data-protection queries, requests and complaints is the Operations Director, ESBICM Office, who can be reached at office@esbicm.org or through the contact form on esbicm.org.

3. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

Membership data. When you register as a Life Member or Associate Life Member, we collect your name, professional designation, qualifications, contact details (email address, phone number where you provide one), country and city of practice, institutional affiliation and any additional professional information you provide on the membership form.

Account and platform activity. Your username, profile information, posts and comments in The ICU App Community, contributions to the ICU Visual e-Library, case discussions, course participation and any other content you submit to the Service. Where you take part in Community discussions, your interaction history (threads started, posts made, content you have liked or shared) is recorded.

Technical data. Your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, the pages you visit, the time and duration of your visits, and the referring website. This is collected automatically through standard web logs and analytics.

Communication data. Messages, queries or correspondence you send to the ESBICM Office, including via the contact form, email or any other channel.

Payment data. When you pay for Plus membership, a course, an event or any other paid ESBICM service, we record what you paid for, the amount, the date and the transaction reference so that we can confirm your enrolment and keep our accounts. Payments are processed by our payment gateway. Your card, bank or UPI details are entered on the gateway's own secure page — ESBICM never sees them and does not store them.

Cookies and similar technologies. As described in Section 10 below.

We do not knowingly collect data from children under eighteen (18) years of age, as the Service is intended for healthcare professionals and is not directed at minors.

4. Photographs and Identity Documents

What we collect. If you choose to apply for ESBICM membership, or to be listed in the ESBICM Faculty Network, we ask you to upload a passport-size photograph of yourself, a photo identity document and your medical qualification documents. You may also upload an optional profile photograph. None of these is needed to create an account or to use the ESBICM platform, including The ICU App. They are requested only for the optional membership application, and they are supplied by you.

Why we collect it. These documents allow the ESBICM Office and the Executive Committee to satisfy themselves that an applicant is a genuine healthcare professional before membership is granted, and they identify you on your membership record, on your membership certificate, and — if you agree to a Faculty Network listing — on your published faculty profile.

We do not collect biometric or face data. Your photograph is stored and viewed only as an ordinary image. ESBICM does not use facial recognition, face detection, face matching, faceprints, face templates, face geometry or any other biometric technology, on our website or in The ICU App. We do not use your photograph to identify, verify or authenticate you automatically, we derive no biometric identifier from it, and we do not operate biometric login of any kind. Every document you upload is examined by a person, in the same way a paper application would be.

Where it is stored. Photographs and documents you upload are held in ESBICM's private cloud object storage, transmitted over encrypted connections, and are not publicly listable. They can be opened only by you and by authorised ESBICM administrators, through short-lived authenticated links. The single exception is a photograph you have agreed to have published on a public Faculty Network profile.

Sharing. We do not sell, rent or trade your photograph or your identity documents, and we do not disclose them to advertisers, marketers, data brokers or any third party for commercial purposes. Our hosting and storage providers can access them only as processors acting on ESBICM's instructions, and we may disclose them where the law requires us to.

Retention and deletion. We keep your photograph and identity documents for as long as your membership record is active, and afterwards for as long as we are required to retain membership records. You can delete your account at any time from the website or from The ICU App, which immediately withdraws your access and removes your profile from the platform. To have the photograph and identity documents themselves erased, write to office@esbicm.org and we will delete them unless we are required by law to keep them.

5. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data only for purposes connected to ESBICM's educational mission and the operation of the Service. Specifically, we use it to:

(a) Operate, maintain and improve the Service;

(b) Verify your eligibility for membership and process your application;

(c) Issue and manage your ESBICM Membership Number and Member Panel access;

(d) Process payments and enrolments for paid services, issue receipts and maintain our accounts;

(e) Communicate with you about ESBICM activities, courses, programmes and updates relevant to members;

(f) Send you the ESBICM Newsletter;

(g) Respond to your queries, requests and feedback;

(h) Recognise and acknowledge contributions made by Faculty Network members;

(i) Maintain the integrity, security and proper functioning of the Service, including detecting and preventing fraud, abuse and unauthorised access;

(j) Comply with legal obligations, regulatory requirements and lawful requests from authorities.

6. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and other applicable law, we process your personal data on the following lawful bases:

Consent. For membership registration, newsletter subscription and other voluntary interactions, we process your data on the basis of your consent, given when you submit the relevant form or opt in.

Legitimate interests. For maintaining the security of the Service, preventing fraud and abuse, and supporting the lawful operation of ESBICM as an educational society, we process certain data on the basis of our legitimate interests as a Data Fiduciary, balanced against your rights.

Legal obligation. Where we are required by law to process or retain certain data — for example, in response to a lawful order from a competent authority — we do so on the basis of legal obligation.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, as set out in Section 12 below. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

7. ESBICM Does Not Sell or Trade User Data

ESBICM is a non-commercial educational society. We do not sell, rent, trade or otherwise transfer your personal data to any third party for commercial purposes. Your name, contact details, professional information and platform activity are used solely to operate the Service, communicate with you about ESBICM and fulfil ESBICM's educational mission.

This is not a regulatory minimum we observe. It is a core commitment of ESBICM. The integrity of the trust members place in us by sharing their professional details is something we have honoured since 2018, and will continue to honour.

8. Sharing of Your Information

Your personal data is accessed only by authorised personnel within ESBICM who need it to operate the Service — primarily the ESBICM Office under the Operations Director, and the Executive Committee where relevant for governance decisions.

We share data with third parties only in the following limited circumstances:

(a) Required service providers — for example, email-delivery platforms, website hosting providers and payment gateways. Such providers are bound by data-protection obligations and may use your data only to provide the service to ESBICM.

(b) Legal authorities — where required by a lawful order, court direction or other legal obligation.

(c) Successor entities — in the event of a restructuring of ESBICM (such as the transition from the Founding Council to the Society Council described in the ESBICM Organisational Structure & Standard Operating Procedures), data may transfer to the successor entity for the continued operation of the Service.

We do not share your personal data with advertisers, marketers, data brokers or any third party for commercial purposes.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy or as required by law:

Membership data is retained for the duration of your membership and for a reasonable period thereafter, in line with ESBICM's record-keeping obligations.

Community posts, discussion contributions and educational content you have submitted are generally retained indefinitely as part of ESBICM's educational archive, even after your membership ends, because they form part of the collective educational resource that benefits the critical care community. You may request removal of such content as described in Section 12 below; we will consider such requests in good faith, balanced against the educational value of the content and the integrity of related discussions.

Discussion Board archive. The ESBICM Discussion Board is closed to new registrations. It remains available for a limited period so that members can consult earlier discussions and files, after which it will be retired. Content posted there is retained on the same basis as other educational content described above.

ESBICM may, however, remove or modify retained content at any time where, in the judgement of the ESBICM Office, the content (a) is harmful, unlawful or in breach of the ESBICM Code of Conduct or these documents; or (b) is materially inconsistent with ESBICM's mission, values or current positions. The Executive Committee may review any such decision on its own initiative or on member request. This power is exercised in accordance with Terms §7 (User Content).

Technical and analytics data is retained for shorter operational periods, typically up to twelve months.

Communication data (queries, correspondence) is retained for as long as necessary to address your query and for a reasonable record-keeping period thereafter.

Payment records are retained for the period required under applicable tax and accounting law.

10. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Service uses cookies and similar technologies to provide essential functionality (such as remembering your login session), to remember your preferences, and to understand how the Service is used so we can improve it.

Some cookies are set directly by ESBICM. Others are set by third-party services used on the Service, such as Google reCAPTCHA, embedded YouTube videos and the XenForo software that runs the Discussion Board archive.

You can manage or delete cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may limit some functionality of the Service.

11. Third-Party Services

The Service incorporates content and features from third parties. Use of these features may involve the collection of data by those third parties under their own privacy policies, separately from this Privacy Policy.

YouTube API Services. The Service uses YouTube API Services to display video content from our official YouTube channel, The ICU Channel, and to enable users to search for videos within that channel. By using our Service, you acknowledge and agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy. You can review the YouTube Terms of Service at https://www.youtube.com/t/terms and the Google Privacy Policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy.

Google reCAPTCHA. Used to protect forms on the Service from automated abuse. Subject to Google's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

XenForo. The ESBICM Discussion Board archive is powered by XenForo software, which sets its own functional cookies as part of normal operation.

Payment gateway. Paid services are processed through a third-party payment gateway, which collects and handles your payment details under its own privacy policy. ESBICM receives only confirmation of the transaction.

Embedded content. Articles and pages on the Service may include embedded content (videos, images, articles) from third-party sites. Such embedded content behaves as if you visited the third-party site directly, and those sites may collect data about you, set cookies and monitor your interactions in accordance with their own policies.

ESBICM does not control these third parties and is not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to review their respective privacy policies.

12. Your Rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and other applicable law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

(a) Right to access — to obtain confirmation of whether we process your data, and to obtain a copy of that data;

(b) Right to correction and update — to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data;

(c) Right to erasure — to request deletion of your personal data, subject to lawful exceptions;

(d) Right to withdraw consent — to withdraw consent previously given, at any time;

(e) Right to nominate — to nominate another person to exercise your rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity;

(f) Right to grievance redressal — to raise a complaint about how your data has been handled.

To exercise any of these rights, contact the Operations Director, ESBICM Office at office@esbicm.org or through the contact form on esbicm.org. We will acknowledge your request and respond within a reasonable period, in accordance with applicable law.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may approach the Data Protection Board of India under the procedure set out in the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

13. Security

ESBICM takes reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These measures include access controls, encryption where appropriate, secure hosting, and confidentiality obligations on personnel who handle data.

While we strive to protect your data, no system of electronic storage or transmission can be guaranteed to be entirely secure. In the event of a personal data breach affecting your data, we will notify the Data Protection Board of India and affected users in accordance with applicable law.

14. The ICU App

The ICU App is the official mobile application of ESBICM. What the app collects, and why, is the same as described in this Policy — your account and profile details, the documents you choose to upload with a membership application, your activity in the Community, and standard technical data such as device type and app version.

No payment is taken inside the app, and prices for paid services are not displayed there. All payments are made through the Member Panel on esbicm.org.

If you allow notifications, the app sends you alerts about classes, courses, notices and Community activity. You can turn these off at any time in your device settings.

You can delete your account from within the app. Deletion immediately withdraws your access and removes your profile from the platform. To have uploaded photographs and identity documents erased as well, write to office@esbicm.org.

15. International Members

ESBICM operates globally and members from many countries use the Service. Where laws of your country (such as the GDPR in the European Economic Area, or the UK GDPR) grant you rights additional to or different from those described above, ESBICM will, where reasonably practicable, honour those rights to the extent applicable to our processing of your data.

Personal data collected through the Service is primarily stored and processed in India. By using the Service, you understand that your data may be processed in India, which may have data-protection laws that differ from those in your country.

16. Changes to This Policy

ESBICM may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services or applicable law. Material changes will be published prominently on esbicm.org. The "Last updated" date at the top of this document indicates when this Policy was most recently revised. We recommend that you review this Policy periodically to stay informed of any updates. Continued use of the Service after changes are published constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.

Acceptance & Contact

Use of the Service constitutes your acceptance of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Policy, please do not register or use the Service.

For all data-protection queries, requests, complaints, or to exercise any of the rights described in Section 12, please contact the Operations Director, ESBICM Office at office@esbicm.org or through the contact form on esbicm.org.