New Delhi: Raising concern over poor state of public health system in the country, Orissa High Court judge Justice SK Panigrahi Monday said that the courts have to take an activist approach to make healthcare a fundamental right.
The Orissa High Court judge stressed the need for building a stronger healthcare system with better capacity and interconnectedness. He cited the Supreme Court’s 1988 ruling wherein the apex court had held that ‘the government has an obligation to ensure that medical attention is provided to every citizen in the country’.
“The courts have to take an activist approach vis-a-vis right to health as fundamental right. We have to work towards a fairer health system that has explicit intentions to work towards a more inclusive and equitable healthcare system without any barrier of access due to cost, distance etc,” Justice Panigrahi said.
Justice Panigrahi’s statement came during the valedictory session of ‘Public Health Law National Moot Court Competition’ jointly organised by National Law University of Odisha (NLUO) and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). He asserted that the health system visualised for the Independent India and the current system are very different.
“Currently, in India, much of our curative healthcare space is occupied by private sector (70-80%), and mostly through out-of-pocket expenditure,” said Justice Panigrahi. Lack of resources and political will resulted in failure of achieving the vision of comprehensive healthcare for all, he added.
“This role division between public and private healthcare systems was not originally visioned for India. One of the first blueprints of the healthcare system in our country in 1946 emphatically defends the building of a universal (for all), comprehensive (covering a wide range of services) healthcare network in India, thinking of health as a right of all the citizens and the government as the main player. This document envisioned no citizen should be deprived of the healthcare needs…,” (sic) Justice Panigrahi said.
Stressing on the need of augmenting the health budget, Justice Panigrahi said that public health spending of the country is little more than 1 per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP) which is one of the lowest in the world. This reflects our misplaced priorities, Justice Panigrahi said.