The Supreme Court said that the right to health includes affordable treatment.
New Delhi:
Affordable healthcare is a fundamental right, the Supreme Court said on Friday, in an important observation that also held the state responsible for ensuring the right, noting that the fight against COVID-19 was a “world war.”
“The right to health is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The right to health includes affordable treatment. Therefore, it is the duty of the state to make provisions for affordable treatment,” he said. the court.
A three-judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah had addressed the issue of health care during the time of the pandemic on their own and also looked at cases where the bodies of coronavirus victims were not they drove with dignity.
“Due to an unprecedented pandemic, everyone in the world is suffering, in one way or another. It is a global war against COVID-19. Therefore, there will be a Government Public Partnership to avoid the global war against COVID- 19, “the judges said. .
“Either the state government and the local administration will take more and more provisions or there will be a cap on the fees charged by private hospitals that may be in exercise of powers under the Disaster Management Law,” they added.
“There is no denying that, for whatever reasons, treatment has become more and more expensive and is not affordable for ordinary people at all. Even if one survives COVID-19, many times financially and economically it is finished.” they said.
The court called for an increase in coronavirus testing and highlighted the need to declare correct data. “You have to be transparent in the number of tests and declare the facts and figures of the people who are positive to the Crown. Otherwise, people will be deceived and will have the impression that everything is fine and they will become negligent,” judges. said.
They also called on the government to step up fire safety measures in hospitals, issue guidelines to provide relief to doctors involved in Covid duty, and ensure political meetings follow Covid rules.
.
