Terms and Conditions of Use

These Terms and Conditions of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of all digital services offered by ESBICM, including the ESBICM website (esbicm.org), the Membership programme, 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").

By registering as a member, accessing any part of the Service, or otherwise using esbicm.org, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not register or use the Service.

These Terms should be read together with the ESBICM Disclaimer, the ESBICM Privacy Policy and the ESBICM Paid Services & Refund Policy, which together with these Terms form the complete agreement between you and ESBICM.

1. About ESBICM

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.

ESBICM operates under the governance framework set out in the ESBICM Organisational Structure & Standard Operating Procedures, which establishes the Founding Council, the Executive Committee, the Academic Committee of ESBICM (ACE), the Research Committee (RC), the Scientific Programmes & Events Committee (SPEC), the Nursing Intensive Care Committee of ESBICM (NICCE), the Medico-legal Committee (MLC), the ESBICM Office, the ESBICM Global Critical Care Faculty Network, the Advisory Board and the Mentorship Forum.

2. Acceptance of These Terms

By accessing or using the Service in any form — whether by browsing the website, registering as a member, posting in The ICU App Community, watching content on The ICU Channel, or any other interaction — you accept these Terms and the documents referenced above. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you have authority to bind that organisation to these Terms.

3. Eligibility

The Service is intended for qualified healthcare professionals and students of healthcare professions involved in the care of critically ill patients. To register or use the Service, you must:

(a) Be at least eighteen (18) years of age;

(b) Have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement under the laws of your jurisdiction; and

(c) Provide accurate, current and complete professional information when registering.

ESBICM reserves the right to verify any information you provide and to refuse, suspend or terminate registration where the information is inaccurate or incomplete, or where the user does not meet the eligibility criteria.

4. Service Availability

ESBICM reserves the right to restrict, limit or decline registration and access to the Service in specific regions or jurisdictions for operational, security, regulatory or other reasons that ESBICM determines, in its discretion, may affect its ability to provide the Service appropriately. Where such restrictions apply, applicants from affected regions will be notified through the membership application process. ESBICM will communicate decisions with sensitivity and respect, while reserving its right not to disclose specific reasons.

5. Membership

ESBICM offers two categories of membership: Life Member (open to doctors and nurses who practise modern medicine, with voting rights within ESBICM) and Associate Life Member (open to paramedics, non-modern-medicine practitioners and other healthcare professionals, without voting rights within ESBICM).

Lifetime membership is provided at no cost and does not require renewal. Membership may, however, be suspended or revoked by the Executive Committee for breach of these Terms, breach of the ESBICM Code of Conduct, misrepresentation of professional credentials, or other conduct that brings ESBICM into disrepute. The full membership framework — including who can join, how to join, member rights and responsibilities, and the conduct provisions — is set out in the ESBICM Organisational Structure & Standard Operating Procedures.

ESBICM Plus. ESBICM Plus is an optional paid addition to membership, valid for one year from the date of purchase. It does not renew automatically; renewal is made manually from the Member Panel. Current pricing is displayed in the Member Panel and may change from time to time. If Plus is not renewed, the benefits associated with it end on expiry — but anything already availed of during an active Plus period is unaffected. A course or event you have already enrolled in continues on the terms on which you enrolled, and a discount already applied to a completed purchase is not withdrawn.

Membership Numbers are issued only after the Membership Application is verified by the ESBICM Office and approved by the Executive Committee.

The Discussion Board archive. The ESBICM Discussion Board is closed to new registrations and remains available for a limited period so that members can consult earlier discussions and files. An existing Discussion Board login does not by itself confer ESBICM Membership.

6. Code of Conduct

By using the Service, you agree to abide by the ESBICM Code of Conduct, set out in full in the ESBICM Organisational Structure & Standard Operating Procedures. In summary:

You will treat all members, faculty and staff with dignity and professionalism. You will not misrepresent ESBICM, its membership or its credentials. You will not post content that is defamatory, abusive, hateful, threatening or obscene, that infringes intellectual property rights, that contains personal information of others, or that is otherwise unlawful. You will not use the Service to promote commercial products, paid courses or for-profit services that conflict with ESBICM's mission of freely accessible and affordable bedside critical care education.

Breaches may result in content removal, account suspension or permanent revocation of membership, in proportion to the severity of the breach. Decisions on enforcement are made by the Executive Committee in accordance with the SOP.

7. User Content

When you submit content to the Service — whether Community posts, comments, case discussions, images, videos or any other material ("User Content") — you confirm that:

(a) You own the content or have the right to share it;

(b) The content does not violate any law or third-party right;

(c) Where any patient image, case or clinical data is shared, all identifying information has been removed and, where required, appropriate consent has been obtained.

You retain copyright in your User Content. By submitting it, you grant ESBICM a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable licence to use, display, publish, reproduce, distribute and archive that content in connection with the Service and ESBICM's mission. ESBICM may remove or modify any User Content at its discretion, with or without notice, where it considers the content to breach these Terms.

8. ESBICM Content & Intellectual Property

All content created by ESBICM, by members of the ESBICM Global Critical Care Faculty Network through ESBICM platforms, or under the ESBICM name — including lectures, videos, course materials, publications, databases, algorithms, the ICU Visual e-Library and educational resources — is the intellectual property of ESBICM, as set out in the ESBICM Organisational Structure & Standard Operating Procedures.

You may access and use this content for your personal continuing education, non-commercial study and professional reference. You may not republish, redistribute or commercially exploit ESBICM content without explicit written permission from the Founder President. The ESBICM name, logo and registered mark (®) may not be used by external parties without explicit written permission.

9. Paid Services and Payments

Most ESBICM services, including membership and core educational content, are provided free of charge. A limited number of services — such as ESBICM Plus, specialty courses and certain events — carry a fee, kept deliberately affordable in alignment with ESBICM's mission.

Prices are displayed in the Member Panel on esbicm.org, where all payments are made. Prices may change from time to time, and the price shown in the Member Panel at the time of purchase is the price that applies. No payment is taken inside The ICU App, and prices for paid services are not displayed there.

Payments are processed through a third-party payment gateway. ESBICM does not see or store your card, bank or UPI details. Refunds, where applicable, are governed by the ESBICM Paid Services & Refund Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

10. Third-Party Services

The Service incorporates content and features from third parties, including but not limited to YouTube (via YouTube API Services for The ICU Channel), Google services, reCAPTCHA, the Gravatar avatar service, the XenForo software that runs the Discussion Board archive, and our payment gateway. Use of these features is also subject to the terms and privacy policies of the respective providers.

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.

Linked third-party websites are provided for convenience only. ESBICM does not endorse and is not responsible for the content, availability or privacy practices of any third-party website.

11. Privacy

ESBICM's collection, use and protection of your personal data is governed by the ESBICM Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms. By using the Service, you consent to the data practices described in that policy. ESBICM complies with applicable data-protection laws, including the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, of India.

12. 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.

The full description of how your data is collected, used, retained and protected is set out in the ESBICM Privacy Policy.

13. Suspension & Termination

ESBICM reserves the right to suspend or terminate your access to all or part of the Service, with or without cause, with or without notice, where:

(a) You breach these Terms or the ESBICM Code of Conduct;

(b) You misrepresent ESBICM, its membership or its credentials;

(c) Your continued use poses a risk to other members, to ESBICM's reputation, or to the integrity of the Service.

Termination of access does not relieve you of obligations accrued before termination, including responsibility for any User Content you have posted.

You may close your account at any time, from the website or from within The ICU 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, as described in the ESBICM Privacy Policy.

14. Disclaimers

The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. The full medical disclaimer applicable to all educational content on the Service is set out in the ESBICM Disclaimer, which forms part of these Terms and which you should read in full.

In summary: the Service provides educational content for the continuing professional education of qualified healthcare professionals. Nothing on the Service constitutes medical advice, and use of the Service does not create a doctor–patient relationship between you and ESBICM, the Founder President, or any contributor.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, ESBICM, the Founding Council, the Executive Committee, the Founder President, and all officers, faculty and contributors disclaim all warranties — express or implied — including warranties of accuracy, completeness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, ESBICM and the persons named above shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages arising from your use of, or inability to use, the Service, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless ESBICM, Dr Ankur Gupta in his capacity as Founder President, the Executive Committee, ESBICM officers, faculty and contributors from any claim, demand, loss or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from (a) any User Content you post; (b) your breach of these Terms; or (c) any violation of law arising from your use of the Service.

17. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms, or your use of the Service, shall first be raised in writing to the ESBICM Office and resolved through ESBICM's internal Dispute Resolution process, set out in the ESBICM Organisational Structure & Standard Operating Procedures. The Founder President's decision under that process is final and binding within the ESBICM governance structure.

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India. Subject to the dispute-resolution provision above, the courts at Indore, Madhya Pradesh shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any matter arising from these Terms or your use of the Service.

18. Changes to These Terms

ESBICM may amend these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our governance, 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 the Terms were most recently revised. We recommend that you review these Terms periodically to stay informed of any updates. Continued use of the Service after changes are published constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

19. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the ESBICM Disclaimer, the ESBICM Privacy Policy and the ESBICM Paid Services & Refund Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and ESBICM with respect to the Service, and supersede any prior or contemporaneous understandings.

Acceptance & Contact

Use of the Service constitutes your acceptance of these Terms. If you do not agree with these Terms, please do not register or use the Service. If you wish to close your account or have questions about these Terms, please contact the ESBICM Office at office@esbicm.org or through the contact form on esbicm.org.