Right to health
Topic: Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The right to health is the right to get medical care, especially in an emergency. It is not listed in the Constitution. The Supreme Court read it into the right to life under Article 21. The State must preserve human life, so a government hospital cannot leave a seriously hurt person without timely treatment.
Example
In Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity (1996), a farm labourer badly injured in a fall was turned away by several government hospitals in Calcutta. The Supreme Court held that denying timely emergency care violated his right to life under Article 21.
Don't confuse with
- Right to live with human dignity: this is the wider idea that life means more than "animal existence". The right to health is one specific part of it.
Related concepts
- Right to life and personal liberty
- A.K. Gopalan case
- Procedure established by law
- Due process of law
- Maneka Gandhi case
- Golden triangle
- Right to live with human dignity
- Right to livelihood
- Olga Tellis case
- Right to shelter