Publication | Patient's rights vs. State's duties

By Harleen Kaur

In 2018, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with the National Human Rights Commission released a draft of ‘Charter of Patient Rights’ – an assembly of provisions in laws and judgments of high courts and the Supreme Court. This was done with a view to helping patients identify their rights through a single, more accessible document.

Since healthcare is a state subject as per the constitution, the health ministry will need to roll out this charter in collaboration with state governments.

Right to health has been accepted to be under the purview of Article 21 of the constitution through various court judgments. Researchers globally are advocating that the right to health information should also be identified as a fundamental right.

In light of this, the released draft is a welcome step. The recent calls for the adoption of the charter show the public interest in knowing and exercising their rights.

There is a catch, though. How does one give rights to patients when they can’t even be identified in the present system? Not just patients, the healthcare system in India is notorious for not providing reliable data on any of the stakeholders. The lack of granular data on basic healthcare stakeholders makes the rights of a patient less significant than they would be in a developed country.

Read more here.

Publication | Crisis in doctor-patient relationship

Making sense of the trust deficit between doctors and patients

In December, 2017, I wrote an editorial for Medical Dialogues imploring on reasons for trust deficit and what can be done to bring the trust between doctors and patients back. The four broad themes include:

1. Time Value: Utilising the small amount of time available for consultation

2. Encouraging transparency

3. Emphasis on prevention

4. Encouraging follow up

You can read the whole piece here.