Odisha: Patient Rights Groups Demand Free, Equitable And Quality Healthcare For All

Bhubaneswar: Representatives of various organisations and patient right groups from across Odisha gathered in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday to discuss on the agenda of “Health for All”- Universal health care for all.

At the meeting, members of Jana Swasthya Abhiyan and Rashtriya Swasthya Adhikar Abhiayan urged Odisha government to ensure that healthcare policies should address an urgent need to bolster public health system.

“We believe that anti-people, corporate driven health agenda be deemed as an act against people and the nation,” they said.

In 2016, Odisha government passed a healthcare investment policy aiming to promote private sector investment in health care sector through strategic partnership, investment and policy interventions.

The government is now shifting towards insurance models, aiming to increase private insurance coverage by 30% by 2025, while converting state-run hospitals into insurance-based entities, members of the patient rights groups said.

The inadequacies of the public healthcare sector became glaringly apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, with many dying untreated due to the government’s failure to provide adequate support.

“Despite having first-hand experience of delivering health care services for profit to the citizen, health funding remains stagnant in real terms, showing a reduction in actual value and still at 1.9% health expenditure of GDP,” they added.

The State government is not adopting the patient right charter despite notification of NHRC and Department of Health & Family Welfare, they said and added, “In absence of notification government’s own systems / institutions and private providers are grossly neglecting the patients’ and violating parents’ rights,” members observed.

The rights activists demanded:

• Accountability, strengthening, and preservation of the public health system;
• No privatization or outsourcing of public hospitals and services;
• Ratification of all ILO fundamental conventions on worker’s occupational safety, health and safety and other relevant labour rights conventions;
• Health for all to be the approach for all levels of health care;
• Institutional arrangements for integration of health consideration in policies of all sectors;
• Prioritization of marginalized and disadvantaged communities in health policies; and
• Making environment and health concerns central to public policy.

At the convention, patients shared their experiences of health denial, negligence, adverse outcome, over charging at health facilities and how the basic health rights were violated.

State Convenor and National Joint Convenor of Jana Swasthya Abhijan, Gouranga Mohapatra said, “The “Campaign of Health for All” represents a unified demand for social justice and dignity. We will steadfastly uphold the values of our Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and strive to create a collective based on equity and non-discrimination.”

He exhorted the centre and state governments, private health sector, and all stakeholders to collaborate in achieving the goals outlined in the resolution.

In the consultative process a memorandum will be send to Odisha Governor, Chief Minister, Health minister, Chief Secretary, and Health Secretary, Mohapatra added.