HEALTH AS A RIGHT IN INDIA

Health is a fundamental right necessary for enjoying other human rights. The WHO has time and again formulated various steps for the proper delivery of this right to the people. This right can be properly and efficiently imparted to the people by initiating various measures by the state. The process should be in the true spirit of a Rights based approach. Imparting this right to the people should remain an obligation to the state so as to be an effective and acceptable step towards a healthy society. The above introduction gives a brief idea of the right to health of an individual. But the right to health cannot be seen in isolation. There are various elements in the society which affects the effectiveness of the Right to health. There are many factors in a society which have to be considered for the proper implementation of the Right to health. These factors even if not directly associated with health of an individual or a society, they always play a very important role when we think about a holistic approach towards health.

Nowadays we can see that the state is gradually trying to relieve itself from this duty as it is becoming more of a management system rather than a service provider. It is because of this reason that many private players are entering in this field which are not well monitored and less answerable. Their main motive is profit and it does not just remain as a profit motive but it always ascends to profit maximizing motive. The trust which the people have on the state is not honored by the state and furthermore this trust is well transacted by the private players. Health is one of the most important basic necessities of an individual. It remains an obligation of the state to deliver this good to its citizens on a rights based model. But here in India we see that health is imparted in welfare based model which many a times fails to deliver because of the attitudes of the policy makers, the policy implementers, the facilitators and also the beneficiaries. All this reflects in the functioning of the Public Health System.

The five A’s (Availability, Accountability, Affordability, Acceptability and Adaptability) which impacts the effectiveness of any service delivery have to be analyzed in this context. Regarding the availability, after 64 years of independence, health to all remains a dream to many Indians. Mere availability of a structure (PHC) does not ensure health to all. The functioning of these PHC’s and other such structures is an issue to be discussed. Also the facilities available at these structures are either of low-quality, unaffordable, unacceptable and furthermore nobody is accountable for all this mess. Accountable does not mean only fine or punishment to the non-performer, but it also means there should be a proper monitoring of the overall functioning. A very interesting fact about monitoring in health in India is that even in the private sector there is no/less importance given for feedback from the beneficiaries. In fact in India, very less emphasis is given to get a feedback from the end user of any policy.