Corporate governance is the structure of rules, practices, and processes that govern the direction and management of a company.

The industrialisation of the healthcare sector has progressed rapidly in recent years. Economics has been a driving force with broad implications for clinical practice.

Two ethical disciplines, bioethics and business ethics, are relevant to this enterprise and require a resynthesis for organisational change.

Bioethics has traditionally addressed individual moral dilemmas in modern medical practice and research. At the same time, business ethics has concerned itself with how corporations can incorporate an ethical perspective into their business practices.

While bioethics has taken mostly an individualistic tack, emphasising autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice and failed to anticipate the development of a corporate approach to healthcare delivery, business ethics has struggled with a narrowly defined vision of its applicability in the business world.

Bioethics must address the theoretical and practical aspects of the healthcare industry without reducing all decisions to matters of individual preference; therefore, corporate governance should involve bioethicists. 

Dr Fourie has completed the directors course, including finance training accredited by the Directors Association of South Africa in 2025.