Rights and health - Dr. Ramani Atkuri https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIFn1Qn7x3gMar 27, 2023
Correction at time 20:00 . 67 times should be read as 6.7 times. ie The defence budget in 2023-24 is 5.94 lakh crore rupees. This is 6.7 times the health budget..
The long road to the ‘Right to Health’ in India https://www.southasiamonitor.org/perspective/long-road-right-health-india By Pavitra Mohan and Naina Seth Sep 29, 2022
Clearer commitments and standards on access and quality, making oversight and redressal mechanisms more participatory, and allocating adequate financial resources alone would make the right to healthcare to all citizens a reality.
The bill rightfully brings back the focus on public health facilities. There has been a growing policy discourse that public facilities do not deliver, that most people in any case seek healthcare from private facilities, and therefore public facilities should be privatised.
The argument is flawed. Firstly, most rural populations in India continue to be dependent on government facilities for most critical healthcare needs: for example, in rural Rajasthan, 98 per cent of childhood vaccination, 70 per cent of contraception, and 79 per cent of institutional childbirths are conducted by government health facilities.
.. the expenditure on healthcare in India pushes 55 million people into poverty every year, a testimony to the need for affordable healthcare. At the same time, public expenditure on health is declining.
'Engage With the Rajasthan Right to Health Act': Healthcare Providers to Those Opposing Legislation https://thewire.in/rights/engage-with-the-rajasthan-right-to-health-act 29/MAR/2023
'We, the concerned doctors, and civil society representatives from Rajasthan and across the country are writing to appeal you to rise above our interests and affiliations, and constructively engage with the Act...'
Rajasthan’s ‘Right to Health’ Act – the first of its kind in the country – has seen protests from thousands of healthcare providers, mainly those who work in the private sector. Two days ago, close to 20,000 healthcare providers gathered in Jaipur following a call by the Indian Medical Association. The Act has it that government hospitals, along with private hospitals and clinics, can no longer refuse a patient seeking emergency medical treatment. If the patient cannot bear the cost of this treatment, then the government will. Protesters have criticised its ambiguity and claimed that it does not provide adequate clarity on the nature of emergencies or the process of reimbursements.
https://theleaflet.in/healthcare-as-a-right-analysis-of-the-rajasthan-right-to-health-bill-2022/
The Bill provides for free and affordable health check-ups, and surgery in both private and public hospitals. It makes it a matter of right for the residents to avail free services as laid down in various insurance schemes. While this goes a long way in codifying what had earlier been perceived as mere expectations, the state takes the burden of providing adequate medical services to the residents.
The Bill goes one step further in in tackling another thorny issue of the right to medical information in medical establishments. Clause 2(i) gives the residents the right to seek information regarding the diagnosis and treatment. At the same time, the Bill makes all such information confidential in nature.
https://thewire.in/government/kerala-public-health-challenges A key highlight of the Kerala Public Health Bill, 2023 that was passed by the state assembly earlier this week is gender sensitivity in the language – the inclusion of feminine pronouns everywhere in conjunction with the masculine. This is entirely consistent with the status of women and the sex ratio at birth that is favourable to the female gender. However, for a state that has been making major strides in affirming third and inter-sex identities, the absence of non-binary pronouns is a missed opportunity, given that there are public health concerns that directly relate to this constituency.