People’s Health Manifesto, 2018

 People’s Health Manifesto, 2018

Remembering the 40th anniversary of the Alma Ata Conference which proclaimed ‘Health for All’ the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan staunchly upholds the Right to Health and Health Care for all people of India . We are opposed to anti-people steps being taken by the current Government in the health sector. We strongly oppose various negative policy trends such as: 

• the failure to move a constitutional amendment to make the right to health a fundamental right in the Indian Constitution

• the recent national health budgets being reduced in real terms, 

• the downgrading of public health services and various retrograde steps concerning the National Health Mission; 

• launching of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana ’ or National Health Protection scheme which is based on the discredited ‘insurance model’ despite massive evidence against the effectiveness of such insurance based schemes involving major participation of the private sector in service delivery;

• moves for privatisation of district hospitals and other public health services; 

• More corporatization of Medical Education giving scope for more capitation based student enrolment.

• continued refusal to ensure effective regulation of the private medical sector, allowing this sector to continue massive profiteering at the cost of patients, especially by corporate hospitals; 

• unwillingness to effectively control prices of medicines, based on cost of production. Allowing marketing of hundreds of irrational and harmful Fixed Dose Drug Combinations. 

• not bringing a legal code to eliminate unethical marketing practices by the pharmaceutical industry; 

• ongoing exclusion and marginalisation of wide sections of the population related to access to quality health services