By Harshita
Introduction
In the year 2018 both the birth of human rights law through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the birth of global health governance through the World Health Organization (WHO), marked their 70th Anniversary[1].
There are several rights which fall under the ambit of human rights of which one is the right to public health. Public Health is a right which is guaranteed to the humans not only by the state but is a human right i.e. a right which cannot be denied to anyone.
It is an essential international standard and is inseparable from the other rights. The right to health, as with other rights, includes both freedoms and entitlements which may include, the right to control one’s health and body (for example, sexual and reproductive rights) and to be free from interference (for example, free from torture and non-consensual medical treatment and experimentation) and entitlements include the right to a system of health protection that gives everyone an equal opportunity to enjoy the highest attainable level of health[2].
World Health Organisation, one of the international organisations working towards protection of public health provides that it is the states and the other duty bearers, responsible for ensuring that the public health right is observed and followed and is not denied to the people on any of the grounds of discrimination.
There are several factors due to which the health of the people may be affected It may be due to rise in the pollution level due to the development activities, spread of any virus or disease, lack of food, clothing and shelter, climate change and many more.
World Health Organisation (WHO) provides with such rules and imposes such duties, wherein the one who is responsible for commission of such an act which may affect the health of public at large shall be held responsible and be made to pay for the same.
This is the reason that the organisations working towards the development process are instructed to observe and adopt the method of check and balances.
The best example for the same can be related with the latest and the most trending issue of the spread of the pandemic, i.e., the spread of coronavirus, which is assumed to have been spread from the state of China, to which liability have been imposed upon China to pay compensation for the act of carelessness followed by the country due to which the entire world is suffering in the current date.
There is a complete change in the lifestyle of the people with the spread of the corona virus. The health systems around the globe are facing a major issue to deal with the spread of such a virus which changes its faces in people.
As part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO is coordinating efforts across several regions and departments to support countries in ensuring continuity of essential health services across the life course[3].
There are several guidelines which were provided by WHO, that were issues in public interest to protect and prevent the spread of coronavirus, i.e. to wash hands, wear masks, gloves, maintain social distancing, while travelling ensure proper measures are taken, sanitize the areas which may be frequently visited, disinfect the areas which may come in contact at the usual basis and many more.
However, there are different standards which may be observed in the different countries with the worst phase of the virus seen in the countries like US and Italy to moderate in other countries.
This shows that the health standards maintained in different countries are different and it is important not only for that particular state to maintain that standard but also for the other states to maintain that standards in case of any trade made between such countries.
This is the reason that after the spread of such a virus, the trade practices between different states took to a different level with more of the safety and precautionary methods.
Public Health: India
India being a developing country and after its independence in the year 1947, came up with the Constitution of India wherein there are several rights which are guaranteed to the citizens of India under the Part III of the constitution as fundamental rights and Part IV being Directive Principle of State Policy, wherein the state is provided with the duty to ensure proper health standards of the citizens of India.
The best example of implementation of such policies can be observed in the present scenario, wherein the efforts have been made by the government of the nation at different levels to make the people of the nation aware, provide them with the guidelines to ensure safety and other related factors.
Article 21 of the Constitution providing with the right to life and personal liberty covers within its ambit the right to health which imposes a constitutional burden on the government to provide health facilities.
The implementation of the following provision with respect to the current scenario can be observed in the form of heath retreats provided by the government to the people who may be infected by the deadly virus.
The increase in number of hospitals, the recruitment of the corona warriors, ensure that proper safety measures are ensured by the citizens, the conducting of tests, providing with the food to the needy people amid lockdown due to the spread of virus, etc., can be best understood as the implementation of the constitutional obligation imposed on the government.
Further Article 47 of the Constitution of India, also places the duty upon the state to raise the nutrition levels and standard of living of people of India, considering public health as a primary duty and by prohibiting the sale and consumption of ‘intoxicating’ drinks and drugs.
The following right granted to the citizens by the Constitution of India can be best understood by the efforts made by the government towards spread of awareness amongst the people of the dangers which may be associated with smoking or consumption of alcohol and imposition of heavy taxes on the purchase of such goods.
Further, the sale of such goods, there is a strict licensing system which is being implemented by the government, without which sale of such intoxicating goods is considered to be illegal and may be banned. Further in respect with the current scenario, wherein there existed a nationwide lockdown within the country, the shops of ration and daily needs were still accessible to the people.
There was no compromise made to the supply or the standard of food being supplied to the public at large. Even there were methods adopted by the government to help the poor or the people falling under the category of below poverty line, to provide them with proper food, wherein still there existed no compromise to the quality of food.
When the issue related to food and public health, India is a type of country which has a large number of poverty-stricken people and for such people affording quality food, twice a day is a greater challenge, because of which the entire family of such people work day and night to earn food.
Mid-day meals is one of the other major schemes, undertaken by the government to provide the students of the government schools with proper food, for which the quality of the food is not put to stake.
In the present times, the government of India is putting in best efforts to ensure that the vaccine for the deadly virus as soon as is available in the market to be provided to the people, it shall adopt such steps, to ensure that the vaccine reaches to each and every citizen of India.
All such activities, steps, schemes, rules, regulations, awareness programmes, etc., undertaken by the government indicates towards the fulfillment of their duty to ensure public health of the citizens being fulfilled.
Critical Analysis
There is no doubt that efforts are being made by the government to reach out to people, to ensure and provide them with such means that can ensure the maintenance of proper standards of public health, but to what extent are these efforts useful is a big question mark.
World Health Organisation or WHO, who provided with the strict rules and regulations towards safeguarding the health of the people, also failed in some areas after the spread of the novel coronavirus.
There is no doubt that there are measures, guidelines, issued by the WHO which could be undertaken by the people to prevent the spread of the virus, but what about the liability that should be imposed on China for the reckless and irresponsible act being committed by them, due to which it is the entire world who is suffering.
There is a large-scale death which have taken place in different countries, a large impact on the economies of the nation the impact to the nations as a whole.
In country like India, wherein there are several rights guaranteed to the citizens under the Constitution of India, the implementation of the same can be seen can be seen on papers, but are they actually fulfilled, is a big mystery hidden behind paid news and the du=dirty games of politics.
There is effort made by the government to maintain their health in this period of crisis by providing them with hospitals and care centres, but what is the actual situation of patients in those centres, what is the situation of those hospitals, is no where provided.
On one hand the deteriorating conditions of the government hospitals and on the other hand the expensive private hospitals, is the actual situation of how the right to health is actually guaranteed. The other face of coin when it comes to supply of food, poverty-stricken people are actually provided with the food according to the orders is the other mystery which has never been looked into.
Conclusion
Public health is a right which is guaranteed to the people at the global level without being discriminated on any grounds. It is the state of the people who acts as a major party when it comes to ensuring the health of the people of its nation.
There are efforts to a large extent which may be made by the government of the different nations to serve their people but to what extent it reaches the people is what is required to be looked into.
It is important to make laws and implement those laws with the help of schemes, policies, etc., but it is the need to have a proper system of surveillance, to ensure a follow up as to what is instructed and what is provided to ensure proper implementation of such acts, schemes and policies and to act in a way that the acts are not required to be hidden behind the game of dirty politics.
Reference-
- Human Rights in Public Health, Health and Human Rights Journal, ↑
- Human rights and Health, World Health Organisation, ↑
- Maintaining essential health services during the COVID-19 outbreak, World Health Organisation, ↑