NHRC to hold Public Hearings on Health

New Delhi, 16 June 2004
The National Human Rights Commission, in partnership with the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan will be holding regional public hearings on Health and Human Rights in five regions of the country followed by a national public hearing in New Delhi.
During the day-long public hearing, selected cases or instances, wherein individuals or groups have suffered denial of right to health care, and have not received mandated health care from a public health facility, would be presented before a panel consisting of the NHRC and the state level public health officials. Similarly, violation of health rights due to structural deficiencies in any other health facility could also be presented.
The first Regional Public Hearing on the Right to Health Care is scheduled at Bhopal on 29 July 2004 at Regional Science Centre, Shyamala Hills, Banganga Road, and will be inaugurated by Dr. Justice A.S. Anand, Chairperson of NHRC.
The cases from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Goa will be presented in this Public hearing.
The hearing for the Southern Region covering Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala will be on 29 August 2004 while the Northern Region hearing for the States of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttranchal will be held in Lucknow on 26 September 2004. On 11 October 2004, the Eastern Region hearing for the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Orrisa, Chattisgarh will be held at Kolkata and the regional hearing for the North Eastern Region will be held at Guwahati on 28 November 2004.
Each public hearing would be preceded by a public notice by NHRC in leading newspapers of the region, regarding the date and venue of the hearings to enable wider participation.
The National Public Hearing to be held in New Delhi in December 2004 will be a two-day long programme, where Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and civil society representatives will be able to present key cases of denial and structural deficiencies noted in the various regional hearings, followed by delineation of state-wise systemic and policy issues related to denial of health care. This will be followed by a joint presentation by NHRC and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan on the spectrum of health care rights, which need to be protected, fulfilled and promoted. This would include the special health rights of vulnerable social groups such as women, children, persons affected by HIV/AIDS, persons with mental health problems, migrant and unorganised workers and persons affected by conflict or displacement.
Union and State Government health officials are expected to respond to these presentations with a description of the steps being taken by them to ensure health care rights, mechanisms for public monitoring and interaction with civil society organizations. The Commission proposes to take up certain serious instances of denial of health care and redress them under the procedure laid down in the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 for complaints of human rights violations. Based on these hearings, the NHRC also proposes to send detailed recommendations to Union and State Governments on systemic issues related to access to Health Care.