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Right to health- A fundamental right
Right to health- A fundamental right
Right to health is an issue of fundamental importance in the Indian society. Along with medical profession, public functionaries such as administrator and judges have the responsibility to protect, respect and fulfil the right to health. The traditional notion of healthcare has now tended to be individual centric and has focused on aspects such as access to medical treatment, medicines and procedures. The field of professional ethics in the medical profession has accordingly dealt with doctor patient relationship and the expansion of facilities for curative treatment. In such a context health care at collective level was largely identified with statistical determinants such as life expectancy, mortality rates and access to modern pharmaceuticals and procedures. It is evident that such conception does not convey a wholesome picture of all aspects of the protection and promotion of health in society. There is an obvious intersection between health care at the individual as well as societal level and the provision of nutrition, clothing and shelter. Also the term health has an inter-relationship with aspects such as the provision of a clean living environment, protections against hazardous working conditions, education about disease prevention and social security measures in respect of disability, unemployment, sickness and injury. More than half a century’s experience of waiting for the policy route to assure respect, protection and fulfilment for healthcare is now behind us. The right to healthcare is a positive right and not a protective fence.
Article 21 of the Indian constitution deals with Protection of Life and Personal Liberty. It lays down that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. Right to Life means the right to lead meaningful, complete and dignified life. It does not have restricted meaning. It is something more than animal existence or surviving. It includes right to live with human dignity in wider sense. As a human being, right to life is fundamental to our very existence. It includes all those aspects of life which go to make a man's life meaningful, complete and worth living.
The Supreme Court has in various judicial pronouncements enshrined the right to health as envisaged under the Indian constitution. Some of the initial judicial pronouncements are related to public interest litigation. Compared to some of the other social rights, the Right to Health has been articulated and recognized as an integral part of the right to life only from the mid-nineties by the Indian Supreme Court. The recognition of the right to health has emerged out of different petitions and public interest litigations in the Supreme Court, which includes PILs concerning workers health hazards, petitions filed by individual seeking rights of emergency medical care, HIV issues, PILs for banning smoking in public spaces and other such matters related to health.
Right to health is thus a fundamental right under the Constitution of India. In a society it is must that our fellow beings must have a proper health care. We see that there are many people who are deprived of such rights just because they are ignorant of the rights they have. They have no idea what they are capable of. Under Part IV of the Indian Constitution the state has a responsibility to ensure the social and economic justice to people. Therefore Part IV directly or indirectly relates to right to health.
