RIGHT TO EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE IN INDIA
Abstract
Medical Emergency not only causes anxiety but also affects the families mentally as well as financially. The cumbersome and laborious procedures for availing the treatment, ill-timed medical care and inadequate quality of healthcare facilities make it difficult to save the victims in need of emergency medical care. As per the Road Accidents in India 2021, the latest data released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 1,53,972 people were killed in road accidents in India in 2021. Road Safety has become one of the biggest public health issues in India. Millions of lives are lost due to road accidents while the number of accidents is increasing. Goal three of Sustainable Development Goals too seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all, at all ages. The right to health is one of a set of internationally agreed human rights standards as well. Keeping in view the dire need for Emergency Medical Care System in India, healthcare has been recognised as an extension of the right to life by the Supreme Court of India in the case of Kaushal Kishore v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others in January 2023 in which the court emphasised that Articles 19 and 21 could be enforced against persons other than the state and its instrumentalities. This paper deals with the Constitutional perspective of the emergency medical care system in India and the challenges that India faces in providing medical care in emergent situations. The paper also proposes suggestions to overcome the challenges.
