The National Convention on Health Rights will be held on December 11–12, 2025, in New Delhi between Human Rights Day (December 10) and Universal Health Coverage Day (December 12).

About the National Convention on Health Rights

• Organisers: The convention is organised by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement – India), comprising diverse civil society networks from over 20 States.
  • It will bring together around 400 health professionals, community leaders and activists to address significant health challenges and set an agenda on the right to health.
  • This year marks the 25th anniversary of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA).
• Purpose: It aims to draw lessons from the COVID-19 crisis, strengthen right-to-health initiatives and present alternatives to the commercialisation of health care.
  • The convention will advocate for effective implementation of regulatory frameworks, including rate standardisation, transparent pricing, mandatory observance of the Charter of Patients’ Rights, and accessible grievance redress systems.

Core Problems in India’s Health System

• Privatisation and Commercialisation: The government’s focus on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model involves handing over district hospitals and medical colleges to private entities whose primary motivation is profit. 
  • This shift commercialises health, turning it into a commodity rather than a service. 
  • Movements in states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Mumbai, and Madhya Pradesh are protesting the dismantling of public health services.
• Unregulated Private Sector: Although the Clinical Establishment Registration and Regulation Act, 2010, exists to standardise rates and regulate private hospitals, health is a State Subject. 
  • Many states have not implemented the Act or have weak implementation, leading to an unregulated environment despite foreign investment flowing into the sector.

Consequences of Weak Regulation

• Overcharging: Private hospitals frequently overcharge, a serious problem highlighted during the COVID-19 period.
• Unnecessary Procedures: Procedures are often performed simply to increase earnings.
  • For example, the rate of C-sections in private hospitals is 40–50%, significantly higher than the WHO recommendation of 10–15%.
• Patient Rights Violations: Patients’ rights are violated when dead bodies are withheld until bills are paid, or when admission is refused without immediate payment.
• Low Public Spending and High Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE): Union Budget allocation for health is only 2%. 
  • Annual per capita public spending on health is low at $25 (around ₹2,000), well below global standards. 
  • This underfunding results in high OOPE, causing millions of people to fall below the poverty line every year due to high medical bills.
• Neglect of Frontline Workers: Frontline workers (nurses, paramedics, ASHA, Anganwadi workers) are often labelled “volunteers” rather than employees. 
  • Consequently, they receive low wages, lack social security (pension, PF), and face poor working conditions, undermining the foundation of the health infrastructure.
• Drug Pricing and Access: Medicines constitute up to half of a household’s medical spending, yet more than 80% of medicines in India remain outside price control.
  • Irrational drug combinations, unethical marketing and high retail markups persist.
  • Additionally, medicines are subjected to GST (Goods and Services Tax), which should be removed. 
  • While the Jan Aushadhi Yojana provides cheap medicines, it faces supply chain issues.
• Social Justice Barriers: Health access is complicated by entrenched social hierarchies.
  • Groups such as Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, the LGBTQ+ community, and Persons with Disabilities face discrimination and greater difficulty accessing health services.

Way Forward

• Model Shift: There is a need to move from an Insurance Model (such as Ayushman Bharat, which has gaps) to an Assurance Model. 
  • This means strengthening government health infrastructure by investing in public hospitals rather than private insurance companies, ensuring free, high-quality care for all.
• Worker Justice: All health workers should be ensured fair wages, job security, and dignity.
• Drug Supply: Public Sector Units (PSUs) should be revived to manufacture affordable medicines and reduce the financial burden on patients.
• Holistic Strategy: There is a need to adopt an intersectoral approach that recognises health as shaped by nutrition, environmental quality, pollution control, and climate change measures.
• Policy Measures:  The emphasis must be on “health care for the people, not for profit,” supported by raising public health spending to 2.5% of GDP as envisioned in the National Health Policy 2017. 
  • This also requires stronger regulation of the private sector and the placement of Primary Health Care at the core of a robust and equitable public health system.

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Conclusion

The National Convention on Health Rights is a call to action for everyone in India who believes that health must be a fundamental human right anchored in robust, responsive public systems. 

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