Right to Health and Medical Assistance

Karthik.T | Sastra Deemed University Thanjavur | 27th June 2020 

PARMANAND KATARA VS UNION OF INDIA

FACTS:

This Writ Petition was filed by a Human rights activist based on a newspaper report that the death of a scooterist who was knocked down by a car. The report further state that the scooterist was taken to the nearest hospital but the doctor had refused to give medical aid and they told that he should be taken to another hospital which is located 20 kilometers away, which was authorized to handle medico-legal cases and that the victim will die if we were taken to that hospital because the accident was so severe .the petitioner has prayed the direction to be issued to the union of India that every injured citizen who brought to the hospital at the time of the accident must be treated by the medical practitioner without any delay to preserve life and thereafter the procedural criminal law should be allowed to operate to avoid negligent death, andwithintheevent of a breach of such direction aside fromany action which willbe taken for negligence, appropriate compensation should be admissible.

ISSUE:

Whether the victim must be given immediate medical aid without any procedure according to the criminal procedure code.

OBSERVATION:

The court observed all the contentions of the petitioner and held that it is the professional obligation of all the doctors whether they are working under the government or private they have to do medical aid to all the injured persons during the time of accident intermediately to preserve their life without waiting for any legal formalities to be complied by the police under Cr.P.C. according to Article 21 of the Indian constitution says that the state is under the duty to save all the life of its citizen. Hence the doctors are under the duty to save life so that the innocent are saved and the guilty are punished. No law or the state should not intervene in the delay of medical aid done by the doctors so that they can discharge their duties respectively.

JUDGMENT:    

The court held that the doctors should treat every victim immediately without any delay and said that the Medical Council should send a copy of this judgment to all the Hospitals and Medial colleges to follow it strictly. so that we can save many life’s of our citizen who dies in an accident because there is no immediate medical aid.