Right-based healthcare will not work without the infrastructure

livemint.com:

Economic Survey 2022). This shows that the real issue is a demand-supply mismatch. One of the main reasons why healthcare has always been a longstanding issue is India’s lack of infrastructure capacity, both at the physical and human resource levels.

So, even if a Right to Health provision is introduced, it will create demand that cannot be met with a meagre supply of health services. This would render the right unenforceable and undeliverable. It is concerning that even though our infrastructure shortage is so evident, the health outlay in the Union Budget for 2023-24 took a backseat, with only a 3.3% increase in budgeted expenditure.

Further, there has been an 11.6% reduction in the revised estimate of 2022-23 versus the budgeted estimate of that year. Thus, not only is our healthcare infrastructure undernourished, it is also understaffed and overburdened. In such a situation, simply pushing ahead with legislation to protect citizens’ right to health will achieve little.

Against these fundamental challenges, the Right to Health enactment in Rajasthan envisages setting up of health authorities at the state and district levels to monitor the delivery of the right. However, beyond the initial concerns of doctors, there are major apprehensions regarding the protection of citizens’ data and their privacy as well as the state’s fiscal capacity. For example, under the bill, district health authorities are required to upload action-taken reports on a web portal for complaints.

It does not specify who will have access to the report on the web portal, risking the patient’s right to privacy. Most importantly, implementing the Right to Health would increase the financial obligation of an already financially stressed state. It does