With electioneering picking up, the focus now turns to issues which the electorate want to be addressed by whichever party that comes to power.
The right to health is one such issue which civil society groups and activists want to be taken cognisance of.
In a manifesto issued here, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, a conglomerate of health activists and individuals, has said the right to health is a fundamental and universal right of all citizens, and this would need to be respected and realised within a timeframe.
The right to health needs also to be located in the underlying determinants of health such as access to safe water and sanitation, adequate food and nutrition, housing and secure livelihoods. Above all, social inequities — based on disparities on the lines of gender, caste and class — have a profound impact on the health of the poorest and the most marginalised, the manifesto says.
The activists have demanded a right to health law to facilitate universal access to quality and comprehensive health care in the primary, secondary and tertiary services and to make denial or non-availability for reasons of access, affordability or quality a justifiable offence. They also want the public health expenditure increased to 3.6 per cent of the GDP. Effective, safe and non-exploitative health care must be provided in all health facilities with due dignity and respect to patient rights, comforts and satisfaction.
The civil society groups have said gender-based violence should be recognised as a public health issue and efforts should be made to give survivors access to comprehensive health care, including physical and psychosocial.
