39 and indivisible human right which cannot be compromised on, the protection and guarantee of which is the main responsibility of the State” (Article 3). The same law sets forth that the Ministry of Public Health shall have the following responsibilities: […] 24. To regulate, supervise, control and authorize the operation of public and private health care institutions, whether profitable or non-profitable, and any other persons or entities which render services in the health control area; 25. To regulate and implement licensing and accreditation procedures, and to establish the norms for the accreditation of health services; […] 34. To enforce and comply with this Law, the regulations and other legal provisions and standards related to health, as well as with the international instruments to which Ecuador is a State Party [(article 6)]. 129. The above-mentioned Organic Law of Health provides that everyone has the right to “[d]uly and effectively initiate, before the competent bodies, proceedings to process administrative or judicial complaints and claims which guarantee the enforcement of their rights, as well as to seek due reparation and due compensation for the damages suffered, in the relevant cases” (Article 7, subsection i). The same Law sets forth that it is the jurisdiction of the “national health authority [Ministry of Public Health] to investigate and punish illegal practice, negligence, lack of skill, recklessness and failure to meet the standards required in the practice of health professions, without prejudice to the ordinary judicial actions” (Article 199). Said law acknowledges the duty of the State and therefore the right of patients that the medical malpractice be investigated and punished at the administrative level, regardless of whether the medical institution or personnel belongs to the private sector. 130. The legislation aimed at improving the conditions of health care services includes the Law on the Rights and Protection of the Patient, Law No. 77 of February 3, 1995, which acknowledges the patients’ right to receive decent services, not to be discriminated, to be protected by professional secrecy, to be informed, and to decide on their medical treatment. As to the scope of the Law, Article 14 states that “said Law is binding for all health institutions in the country,” with regard to the supervision to which all public and private institutions authorized to render services by the National Health System must be subject, as well as those private institutions which are not included in such system. In this regard, there should be clear and sufficient legislation preventing exceptions that might arise in connection with access to the information contained in the medical file (supra paras. 67 and 68), as well as access to the file by virtue of a judicial or administrative order. 131. In Ecuador there are also union laws such as the Ecuadorian Medical Federation amended and codified Law for the Professional Practice, Improvement and Defense,115 which provides, among others questions, that medical associations must set up honor tribunals. The Medical Ethical Code enacted in 1992 under the agreement of the Ministry of Public Health should also be mentioned. Such Code states that “[p]hysicians have the sacred duty to respect the principles established in the declaration of human rights. Their professional practice shall be governed by 115 The “Amended and Codified Ecuadorian Medical Federation Law for the Professional Practice, Improvement and Defense, Decree No. 3567-A of 1979, sets forth the structure of the Ecuadorian Federation and the regulation of Medical Associations and the Honor Tribunal set up to examine the professional practice of phycisians.