Right to Health

The right to health means access to conditions and services necessary for protecting physical and mental well-being. Although it is not expressly listed as a separate Fundamental Right, the Supreme Court has interpreted the right to life under Article 21 to include health and medical care. Directive Principles further require the State to promote public health, nutrition and humane working conditions.

Constitutional basis

The right draws support from Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles, which together connect human dignity with the State's welfare responsibilities.

• Article 21 protects life and personal liberty; judicial interpretation treats life as a life of dignity, not mere physical existence.
• Article 47 makes improvement of nutrition, living standards and public health a primary duty of the State.
• Articles 39(e), 41 and 42 address workers' health, public assistance during sickness and disablement, humane working conditions and maternity relief.
• Under Article 37, Directive Principles are not judicially enforceable, but they are fundamental in governance and guide interpretation of Fundamental Rights.

Judicial recognition and enforcement

The Supreme Court has used Article 21, read with the Directive Principles, to impose positive obligations concerning medical care.

• In Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity v. State of West Bengal, 1996, the Court held that failure of government hospitals to provide timely treatment could violate Article 21.
• In State of Punjab v. Mohinder Singh Chawla, 1997, the Court affirmed that the right to health is integral to the right to life.
• Violations may be challenged before the Supreme Court under Article 32 or High Courts under Article 226, although implementation ordinarily operates through legislation, policy and public institutions.

Allocation of public-health responsibility

Under Article 246 and the Seventh Schedule, public health, sanitation, hospitals and dispensaries fall primarily within State legislative responsibility. Prevention of the inter-State spread of infectious or contagious diseases is placed in the Concurrent List.

• Articles 243G and 243W permit States to devolve health-related functions to Panchayats and Municipalities through the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules.
• This structure makes health protection a shared governance task involving the Union, States and local bodies within their respective constitutional fields.