Medical denial cases to be submitted to NHRC
Siddhartha D. Kashyap
[ Thursday, September 04, 2003 05:44:20 pmTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
PUNE: * A poor pregnant woman in labour was refused admission in a municipal
hospital in Pune, and was forced to deliver on the roadside near the hospital
gates.
* Another poor woman, suffering from gangrene, succumbed to the ailment, after
being denied treatment at the government-run Sassoon Hospital.
* A child with pneumonia was turned away by a public healthcare facility in
Mumbai as the parents could not pay the case paper fees, a paltry sum of Rs 10.
The child died of complications shortly later.
* A pregnant mother, very close to delivering, approached the health centre in
Alandi. There was no doctor to examine her, and after waiting for three hours,
and unable to put up with the unsolicitous attitude of the nurses, she returned
home. She delivered at home and bled to death.
* A tribal woman in Madhya Pradesh, underwent a sterilisation operation, in a
government health centre and ironically died due to contracting tetanus because
of usage of grossly unsterilised equipment.
The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) — a national network of more than 1,000
organisations in the country concerned with healthcare and policies — will be
presenting some of these cases of medical denial to patients to the national
human rights commission (NHRC) chairperson, Justice A S Anand, at a two day
event, to be held at Mumbai from Friday.
As Dr Abhay Shukla, the joint convener of JSA, explains, "September 6 marks
the 25th anniversary of the historic Alma Ata conference in September 1978 which
had given the landmark call of 'Health For All'.
"Ironically, even 25 years after 134 countries across the globe had pledged
to implement a 'health for all' policy, basic healthcare in the country still
continues to be a big question," he pointed out, explaining that the
two-day event will be the launch of a nationwide campaign to demand that health
be made a fundamental right for every citizen.
While data on medical denial has already been collected from eight states,
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Chattisgarh, to name a few, Shukla said
over 200 representatives from 18 national health organisations, representing
over a dozen states, will be meeting in Mumbai to discuss the issue threadbare,
and formulate an action plan in this regard.
"We have so far collected about 20 such cases from Pune and rest of
Maharashtra," Shukla said, adding that the details of 50 cases from across
the country will be compiled and presented to the NHRC in the form of a national
petition.
"The ultimate aim is to ask the commission to intervene in this
matter," Shukla, who is also a member of the Pune-based Cehat told TNN.
"These cases, which reflect the abysmal conditions prevailing in the health
system, will be used as the basis for the petition to the NHRC," he said,
pointing out the commission has already made many recommendations in recent
past, including the suggestion that a constitutional amendment be enacted to
make Right to Healthcare a fundamental right.
While issues like women's right to healthcare, right for HIV/Aids affected
persons, and unauthorised workers, will be deliberated upon at the meeting,
Shukla said a final decision on filing public interest litigation at the Supreme
Court will be taken up during the two-day sessions.
"On the anvil are also plans to organise regional public hearings,"
Shukla said, further adding that a national convention is also being planned
shortly at New Delhi where senior representatives from all major political
parties will be invited.
"The idea is to make these leaders commit themselves to make the right to
healthcare a fundamental right in the constitution before the next general
elections," he said.
[Times of India, Thursday, September 04, 2003]