A charter of patients’ rights will address power asymmetry between them and doctors | The Indian Express

A charter of patients’ rights will address power asymmetry between them and doctors | The Indian Express

Written by Abhay Shukla |Updated: October 23, 2019 9:42:48 am

The writer is a National Convenor, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan

A charter of patients’ rights will address power asymmetry between them and doctors

The implementation of the NHRC Patients’ Rights Charter and the MoHFW’s circular on patients’ rights are good starting points for such a purpose.

The commercialisation of India’s health sector in the last two decades has exacerbated the traditional power asymmetry between healthcare providers and patients. (Representational)

On Gandhi Jayanti, nearly 100 people gathered at the Rajghat to conduct a “Patients’ Satyagraha”. Mobilised by the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and other patients’ rights groups, many of the protestors were from families of patients who had been subjected to malpractice and negligence in private hospitals.