Right to Health pertaining to Scheduled Tribes: An Exposition

The widely accepted definition of health is that given by the WHO in the preamble of its constitution, according to World Health Organization, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease. And this Right to health is not included directly in as a fundamental right in the Indian Constitution. The Constitution maker imposed this duty on the state to ensure social and economic justice. The Constitutional directives contained in Articles 38, 39 (e) (f), 42, 47, and 48 A in Part IV of the Constitution of India ensure the obligation on the state to create and to sustain the conditions congenial to good health. If we only see those provisions then we find that some provisions of them have directly or indirectly related to public health. Thus the preamble to the Constitution of India, inter alia, seeks to secure for all its citizens justice-social and economic. It provides a framework for the achievement of the objectives laid down in the preamble. The preamble has been amplified and elaborated in the Directive Principles of State policy. But the question is whether these policies, schemes, and plans of government with regard to health care, reaching the lower sections of people especially scheduled tribes. Further, this paper will focus on aspects like health care policies, problems in implementing, center and states participation, aspects of healthcare, drawbacks in government policies, strategies to improve the approach of providing health care in tribal areas, etc