Right to Health in India

Context

The National Convention on Health Rights (Dec 11–12, 2025) is being held in New Delhi to discuss India’s major public health challenges. The event focuses on strengthening the right to health, regulating privatisation, improving public spending, ensuring equity, and learning from the COVID-19 experience.

What is the National Convention on Health Rights?

1. A national platform bringing together health professionals, activists, and community leaders from over 20 States.
2. Organised by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement – India), which has worked for 25 years on pro-people health policies.
3. Aims to address issues such as privatisation, weak regulation, inequity, and high out-of-pocket expenditure.
4. Focuses on universal health care, patient rights, and strengthening public health systems.
5. Seeks to shape an agenda where health is recognised as a basic human right.

Why is the right to health important?

1. Over 80 crore Indians depend on public health services, making public system strengthening essential.
2. India has low public spending on health (2% of Union Budget), leading to poor infrastructure and high financial burden.
3. Rapid privatisation without proper regulation increases unaffordable care, overcharging, and exploitation.
4. Frontline health workers face low wages and insecure jobs, affecting system performance.
5. Persistent social discrimination denies equal access to marginalised groups — Dalits, Adivasis, minorities, LGBTQ+ persons, and persons with disabilities.

How is this convention addressing these issues?

1. Civil society is advocating for stronger laws, better regulation of private hospitals, and enforcement of patient rights.
2. The convention proposes rate standardisation, transparent pricing, and grievance redress systems.
3. Discussions emphasise public financing models to reduce out-of-pocket expenses and reform insurance-based schemes.
4. Sessions on medicines highlight measures such as removal of GST, regulation of irrational drugs, and boosting public-sector manufacturing.
5. Community-led models and decentralised planning are being promoted for revitalising public health systems.

Important Aspects

1. Privatisation Trend: Expansion of PPPs and handover of medical colleges to private entities may weaken public health capacity.
2. Regulatory Gaps: The Clinical Establishments Act (2010) is poorly implemented, allowing overuse of C-sections and unethical pricing.
3. Financial Vulnerability: Out-of-pocket expenditure remains high due to medicines being outside price control.
4. Health Workforce Issues: Lack of social security, low salaries, and poor working conditions reduce system resilience.
5. Social Determinants: Food security, pollution, and climate change directly influence health outcomes.

Implications

1. Without stronger public systems, India risks deepening health inequity.
2. Excessive privatisation may increase commercialisation of essential services, undermining affordability.
3. Poor regulation reduces patient safety and trust in health systems.
4. Strengthened public investment can help India progress toward Universal Health Coverage.
5. Addressing social justice issues supports an inclusive, rights-based health system.

Challenges and Way Forward

Conclusion

India’s health system requires structural reforms that strengthen public institutions, regulate the private sector, and ensure equity. Recognising health as a fundamental right and investing in resilient public systems are essential for universal, affordable, and rights-based health care. The convention provides momentum for transforming health governance to place people, not profits, at the centre.