NEW DELHI / AGARTALA, Feb 18 (TIWN): Tripura Govt is under massive controversy after it scrapped one after one free medical facilities from its Govt hospitals. After BJP Govt under Health Ministry of Biplab Deb scraped Free Medical Services from Govt hospitals, it has now imposed charges on ICU beds regardless APL and BPL families. But experts say that Indians do have their right to live and right to health and article 21 has those provision. The notification was issued on 10th February, 2020 with a fresh signature of 17th February, 2020 from the day of effect. No.F.2. (496)-Med/User Charges/ 2017/27614-54 said, “With reference to the meeting held on 31/10/19 at AGMC and GBP hospital chaired by Secretary, Health & Family Welfare it has been decided that the ICU bed-charges of AGMC and GBP hospital will be applicable as per Govt notification vide no. F.1 (1138)-DHS/2016/3591(V-II) dated 19-7-2019 with immediate effect. “The bed charges of ICU is Rs. 500 per day for APL patients and Rs. 250 per day for BPL patients”, said the circular.

“The Constitution incorporates provisions guaranteeing everyone’s right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees protection of life and personal liberty to every citizen. The Supreme Court has held that the right to live with human dignity, enshrined in Article 21, derives from the directive principles of state policy and therefore includes protection of health . Further, it has also been held that the right to health is integral to the right to life and the government has a constitutional obligation to provide health facilities”, say the Law.  

“Failure of a government hospital to provide a patient timely medical treatment results in violation of the patient’s right to life. Similarly, the Court has upheld the state’s obligation to maintain health services”, it says.  

Not only nation but what BJP Govt is doing is violation of  international human rights law.  Right to health refers to and mean the most attainable levels of health that every human being is entitled to. Health has been much regarded as the basic and fundamental human right by the international community under international human rights law. In contrast to all the other human rights, the right to health creates an obligation upon the states to ensure that the right to health is respected, protected and fulfilled, and is duly entitled to all its citizens.  

Article 21 can only be claimed when a person is deprived of his “life” or “personal liberty” by the “State” as defined in Article 12. Violation of the right by private individuals is not within the preview of Article 21.  Article 21 secures two rights:  1)  Right to life, and  2) Right to personal liberty.  

MEANING AND CONCEPT OF ‘RIGHT TO LIFE’  

‘Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.’ The right to life is undoubtedly the most fundamental of all rights. All other rights add quality to the life in question and depend on the pre-existence of life itself for their operation. As human rights can only attach to living beings, one might expect the right to life itself to be in some sense primary, since none of the other rights would have any value or utility without it. There would have been no Fundamental Rights worth mentioning if Article 21 had been interpreted in its original sense. This Section will examine the right to life as interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court of India.  Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950 provides that, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” 

‘Life’ in Article 21 of the Constitution is not merely the physical act of breathing. It does not connote mere animal existence or continued drudgery through life. It has a much wider meaning which includes right to live with human dignity, right to livelihood, right to health, right to pollution free air, etc.  Right to life is fundamental to our very existence without which we cannot live as a human being and includes all those aspects of life, which go to make a man’s life meaningful, complete, and worth living. It is the only article in the Constitution that has received the widest possible interpretation. Under the canopy of Article 21, so many rights have found shelter, growth, and nourishment. Thus, the bare necessities, minimum and basic requirements that are essential and unavoidable for a person is the core concept of the right to life.

Tripura Govt notification on imposing bed charges in ICU