Soon, residents of Madhya Pradesh might get access to health services and adequate water supply as state-guaranteed rights. The MP government is mulling ‘right to health’ and ‘right to water’ legislations to ensure the basic services to the public.
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Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh S.R. Mohanty confirmed to THE WEEK that the government will soon bring in the legislations. “There can be no right without proper legislation, so it will be done,” he said. If it so happens, MP will become the first state in country to provide legislated guarantee to its citizens on health care and water availability. “I don’t know whether we will be the first state to do so, but we will definitely do it,” the chief secretary said.
Patients' rights, grievance redress platform
NGO Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, which has been pushing for a Right to Health Act in Madhya Pradesh, has commended the decision. Amulya Nidhi of the NGO told THE WEEK that the organisation has placed a draft proposal before the state government. Some of the key points proposed are integration of health guarantee schemes at the national and state levels, a separate grievance redressment platform to cover complaints on denial of services, negligence and non-implementation of essential health services and community monitoring of the schemes and programmes under the National Health Mission.
Right to Water
Chief Minister Kamal Nath, during a recent meeting, asked the authorities concerned to draft legislation on Right to Water aiming at ensure adequate water for every person in the urban areas. The Chief Minister said that the "Right to Water Act" will be instrumental in ensuring requisite quantity of water to urban citizenry. Under the Act, tap water connections to all households and ensuring of water availability for all other requirements is proposed. The details are still under discussion, sources said.
