Tamil Nadu mulls Right to Health Bill to boost healthcare, delivery of schemes

An official said there was a need to hold 'wider consultations' as the right to health should be devised in a sustainable way

Tamil Nadu government is mulling drafting a Right to Health Bill that will ensure ensuring high-quality healthcare services to all citizens of the state and promote greater public participation in better delivery of the existing schemes.

National Health Mission (NHM) – Tamil Nadu is piloting the discussions over drafting the Bill, which the state says will be the first-of-its-kind in the country, as similar legislation passed in Assam is yet to come into effect. The NHM had last week organised a day-long session to discuss the broad contours of the proposed Bill during which bureaucrats, public health experts, and doctors exchanged ideas on the proposed legislation.

“We feel legislation to make healthcare a right to every citizen of the state is a step in the right direction. We want to draft a Right to Health Bill that will serve as an inspiration to other states in the country. The Bill is in the inception stage. We believe the right to healthcare is important, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic,” a government official told DH.

Though the aim of the legislation is to ensure healthcare as a fundamental right of the citizens, the official said, there was a need to hold “wider consultations” on the issue as the right to health should be devised in a sustainable way.

The government is planning to consult all stakeholders and study in detail similar bills enacted by nearly 79 countries. “A detailed study will help find out lacunae in the bills and how these countries fared during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study will also help us understand the public response during the pandemic and help plug the loopholes while drafting our own,” the official said.

He also said financial implications of the right to health legislation and funding pattern of the schemes will also be part of the discussions before getting into drafting the legislation. A public healthcare expert, who wished to remain anonymous, told DH that the government should take all stakeholders into confidence while drafting the Bill as this should not turn into yet another legislation just on paper.

“Everything should be taken into account while drafting the Bill. The demand for existing schemes should be studied in detail, the ways to empower healthcare workers, finding personnel to take healthcare to doorsteps of people if need be and the quality of the existing schemes,” he said.

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