The Hindu : New Delhi News : NHRC chief unveils action plan for better health care

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 19, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

NHRC chief unveils action plan for better health care

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 18. The National Human Rights Commission Chairperson, Justice A.S. Anand, has called upon the Central and State Governments to enact specific legislations that would delineate the health rights of citizens, duties of public health system and the public health obligations of private health care providers. He said broad legal and organisational mechanisms to operationalise these rights and duties should also be specified.

Addressing a press conference on Friday at the end of a two-day national public hearing on rights to health care organised by NHRC in association with Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Mr. Anand said the legislations should be designed to make denial of health care arising from systemic failures more justiciable.

Presenting an action plan prepared on the basis of deliberations at the public hearing, Justice Anand said there was also a need to set up health services regulatory authorities on the lines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) that would broadly define and sanction what constituted rational and ethical practices. The authorities should include public health experts, legal luminaries, representatives of consumer, health and human rights groups and elected public representatives.

In addition, the public hearing, he said, has recommended the enactment of legislations to regulate clinical establishments to protect the rights of people with regard to private medical sector, including the rights to emergency services, ensuring adherence to minimum standards, treatment protocols and ceilings on prices of essential health services.

It also called for the publication of guidelines on essential drugs specifying the rights of the people to access quality essential drugs at all levels in the public health system, with inclusion of all essential drugs under the Drug Price Control and elimination of irrational formulations and combinations. The Centre should publish a national drug formulary based on the essential drugs list and the morbidity pattern of the Indian population.

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