Author: Shubhda Jain
Introduction
The rights of patients are important as covid 19 has made us realise how our health care systems are. in the constitution of India, it is there that right to life is a fundamental right, whereas the right to health is the most prominent part of it. Healthcare centres are heaven for most people where they can lessen or remove the pains.
Patients who know their rights can access the best healthcare system. because they have all the right to do it, hence, no economic, social, or polar identical barriers can make them deprived of it.
Remember when someone in the family met with an accident or some disease it has to rush to get the aid for it. And by knowing your rights, you have the position to ask for them. Most of the time people don’t know where they are headed, and what to do. If the person is aware of the rights they could ask for them.
The main act which comes is the right to information act,2005. A patient has the right to know about the status of the health, particulars on the medical report, side effects of medicine or surgery, and estimated amount of recovery, except in emergency cases.
Rights are as follows:
Right to Information on patients' health status and informed consent
(right to information act,2005)
every person has the right to know about the documents, medical reports, side-effects, estimated amount, time, and procedure and ask questions about the documents. except in emergency cases.
Right to Informed Consent
Every individual has the right to conscientiously
participate in decisions regarding her or his health. health care providers must communicate with the patients in which the person can make him understand, which includes the medium of language that is been used.
In all circumstances, a contract or legal representative should be there to provide the consent of a guardian whether a minor or adult, as he is approving of the treatment.
A patient has the right to refuse a medical intervention or treatment to change their mind during the treatment and refuse its continuation.
A patient also has the right to refuse to provide information on their health status. but the patient should provide it as it is better for him only.
Right to Free Choice
Every person has the right to go through any diagnostic examination, therapy, or treatment and choose a specialist, doctor, hospital, or treatment of their own choice.
Health services are also bound to provide unbiased and factual information on doctors and equipment competency.
Right to Privacy and Confidentiality
As the name suggests every person has the right to have the privacy of their therapeutic procedure, diagnostic examination, specialist visits, and medical or surgical treatment. information about the person should be shared by those who are involved in the procedure and relatives.
Right to Safety
It is one of the most important rights.in right to safety in the healthcare sector means that the patients should not be harmed by poor functioning of health services which refers to the individual getting the best of treatment for the best of outcomes. the quality of the treatment should be the finest and the cost of it should not be overly or underly charged.
Medical malpractice or errors could be easily avoided by following any procedure carefully and with due care.
The health centre must have sanitised pieces of equipment, functioning machinery, oxygen, cylinder, syringes, monitors, ventilators and much more suggested by various organisations.
Right to Compensation
Every individual has the right to receive an appropriation for compensation, in a reasonable short time, whenever that person suffered from psychological, moral, or physical harm in a health care facility.
Right to Complain
Every individual has a right to complain if they got harmed or injured by any health care services. health care needs to provide the rights of patients, and not stop them to file a complaint. the matter could be solved by mediation and arbitration if not a complaint. the period of solving the problem should be reasonable and the health care facility should give a comprehensive and exhaustive report and reasons.
A case study was done by the wire, summary
India is a country which doesn't give reliable data to the stakeholders which are elements of the health care system, and therefore rights of patients are less significant.
India has complex diseases, which are not covered by insurance and therefore the hefty bill is made.
Case laws
State of Maharashtra Vs. Chandrabhan, AIR 1983 SC 803 the Supreme Court
Article 21, right to life, means that life should be worth living and meaningful. This makes it an essential component of life.
The right to health is sacrosanct of the right to life, article 21 of the Constitution of India. cases of the supreme court are:
Pt. Parmanand Katara v. Union of India (1989) 4 SCC 286
Where a doctor or hospital has to attend to the patient in emergency cases, especially of medico-legal.
lpashim banga khet majoor samiti vs state of west bengal(1996) 4 SCC 37
Patients with severe health problems, need to be admitted and get their operations done as a priority.
In the state of Punjab and Others v. Mohinder Singh Chawla and others, {(1997) 2 Supreme Court Cases 83}, at Page 84, the government employees' medical expenses including rent of the room of the government hospital would be paid by the government.
Many international laws govern the rights of patience and it is the prime importance because it is directly related to the right to health, which essential part of a right to life.
Article 22 to 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights states that the development of human personality and human dignity is pivotal for a better life, which is a guarantee of a basic minimum
Article 7(b) of the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 states that it is the right of everyone the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work, that is safe and healthy working conditions.
Article 25(2) of the universal declaration of human rights,1948, states that a person has a right to a standard of living for the whole family that includes medical care, sickness and disability because it is an integral part of the health.
Article 39(e) of the constitution of India, states that its policies should be constructed such that its prime importance should be to secure the health and strength of workers. right to social justice and livelihood is an essential part of the right to life. right to development of personality, human dignity and social protection, comes under.
The term health is not just well being of the citizen, this term carries more than that. Good health provides the person to be mentally and physically strong which directly impacts the economy through work. hence, it has an enormous impact on the social and cultural life of the citizen. from the term health, every commodity is related to it.
Health care facility provides us to live a better life and for others, it provides us with a second chance to live our precious life.
.HAQ denotes healthcare access and quality, it stands for access to treatment, doctor, medical equipment, and room rent which are of standard quality and working condition.
Studies were conducted by the global burden of disease, which is a leading and trustworthy study all around the world, and was published by the lancet.
In this study, the higher the score the better the country is in providing healthcare to the people of the nation and the index rank is ranking done taking 195 countries around the globe.
Compared to BRICS, which people claim to be the future (2025) dominating global economies, India is way behind as seen from the above table. Hence in the world, we are way behind.
India is behind its neighbouring countries Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. if compared to the world it is way below
Conclusion
our country has immersible rights for patients and providers to compensate for the rights. most of us don't know our rights and the one who knows does not fight if something wrong takes place.it is prudent for a person to acknowledge this issue of asking for justice in our healthcare system.no one can be deprived of the healthcare facility. India is far behind most of the countries, including neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh. and the data we have on our healthcare is not even verified and also no studies are conducted to know this data. a life is gone forever, but that can be changed by asking for our rights, which is for us.
Bibliography
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/64283179.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
https://www.firstpost.com/india/world-health-day-2019-access-quality-of-care-ranks-india-among-lowest-globally-4480939.html
tables of BRICS from the global burden on disease study published by the lancet
Many hospitals and healthcare centers are there in India where many patients do not have enough right to know about entire process of treatment and medical practice. This would help them to get each and every information.
ReplyDelete