Legal

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This Blog is written by Yash Yadav from Alliance University, Bengaluru. Edited by Ritika Sharma.

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INTRODUCTION:

All human beings in the world are born free and are equal in dignity in rights but the people which have a condition with a disability all over the world including India experience Human Rights Violation and various discrimination as compared to the normal ones. First of all, one should know about what ‘Disability’ means in various senses and circumstances. According to World Health Organization (WHO), the definition of Disability is any restriction or lack of ability to do or perform some act in am manner or within the range considered normal for a human being. Since WHO stated that Disability is a complex concept and it is difficult to define any particular definition for disability as it varies in type, form, and intensity and hence, the World Report on Disability in 2011, stating Disability is a complex, dynamic, contested and multidimensional. In simple words, Disability refers to the disadvantage or restriction or impairment in doing or performing any particular activity in a natural way and it can be cognitive, intellectual, development, sensory, or some combination of these. Disability is not just a health problem but a complex phenomenon showing the interaction between the functions of the human body with the features of the society in which a disabled person lives. According to the census of 2011 in India, out of the total population of 121 crore, among all the 121 crore, there are around 2.60 crore persons in India which comes under the category of disables which is around 2.2% of the total population of the country and majority of the people who comes under the category of Disabled are residing in the rural areas. Due to the condition, most of the disabled often have lower education, lives in a higher poverty situation and a much poorer health conditions as compared to the normal person. These persons are also considered as one of the marginalized groups all over the world and they have the same kind of health needs as required normal person as they experience a narrow health margin in context of  a normal human beings and is more vulnerable to these kind of health problems but the problem is as in the Sustainable Development Goals assign a huge priority to prevent and overcoming disability and in current Union Budget of 2020- 2021 has allocated a huge amount of money i.e. 9500 crore towards senior citizens and person with disabilities but still India is lacking in implementing of the policies regarding the disabilities.

CAUSES OF DISABILITY:

Under this heading, some common causes of Disability are mentioned below due to which a person can become disable which are as follows:

• Poverty and Disability: Poverty and Disability has quite long relationship by which a disability is related which is due to poverty, there is less income in the family by which they are not able to meet their basic needs like adequate shelter, Standard of Living Conditions which amounts to Disability.

• Occupational Hazards: Such types of accidents occurs in the Factory due to anything like fault of machinery or many mistake as some wok in Hazardous occupation due to which it can amount to Disability.

• Traffic Hazards: Traffic Hazard is also one of the common reason behind disability like Car Accident, etc

STATUTORY PROVISIONS:

There are various provisions and laws which are enforceable in the country regarding the disability in India, but this article will be focused more on health laws of disability than the other laws, but they would be discussed in brief. First of all, we should know about the main acts regarding disability and then will jump to the focused health laws regarding health laws are as follows:

• Disabilities Act, 2016

This is the main act which is applicable for disabled persons in India as this act came in 2016 and replace the previous act for disable which came in 1995 which was focused on the responsibility of the state towards the prevention of disabilities, protection of rights of Disabled along with the various provisions for the medical care, education, employment and the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. The other aim was also to create a barrier free environment for person with disabilities as well as to counter any situation in which if there is any exploitation and abuse towards the persons with the disabilities and this act also defines the persons with the disability as a person suffering from not less than forty percent of the below mentioned disability authorized by the medical authority in India. The disabilities are as follows:

1. Blindness

2. Leprosy

3. Low Vision

4. Hearing Impairment

5. Loco Motor Disability

6. Mental Illness

7. Mental Retardation

As in the amended act of disability passed in 2016, increased the number of disabilities from 6 to 21 as the earlier act became outdated and as the newer act introduced the classification of persons with disabilities as:

• Persons with disability.

• Secondly, persons with Benchmark disability

• Persons with disability who needs to be cared highly.

As their various laws also for disabled for Education, Reservation, Infrastructure and many more but now we will discuss about laws and act regarding health of Disabled.

HEALTH LAWS:

Under Article – 47 of the Indian Constitution, imposes on the government a primary duty of the ruling government to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living of its people in the country and make improvements in the Public Health and if we particularly look into the provisions for disables and some of the provisions which is for the health of provisions including the disabled is mentioned in the Mental Health Act, 2017.

Mental Healthcare Act, 2017

In the month of April 2017, Mental Healthcare Bill was passed and Mental Health Care Act 2017 came into existence and thus the following act provides for the persons who are suffering with the problem of mental illness with healthcare and services to provide and protect their rights and this was done in order to harmonize and to put into lime the concept of local mental health act 1987 with the following the protocol on right of persons with its disabilities and protocol which was adopted by the United Nation in 2006 and it came into force in 2007 and the definition of mental illness is also clearly defined in the act as the Substantial disorder of thinking, perception or any orientation or any ability to meet the ordinary demands of life.

The highlighted act was there was some prohibition of some procedures to be followed and one of the important things is some decriminalization of attempt to suicide under the Indian Peal Code and various measures are being measured under the Indian Penal code.

Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992

This is one of the important acts as this act came into existence to regulate the training of rehabilitation professionals and to establish and to maintain a Central Rehabilitation Register for the certification rehabilitation professional and also in this act Rehabilitation Professional is being mentioned under the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992. The main aim of the Rehabilitation council of India are:

• It was to regulate training policies and programs

• To standardize training courses for the professional

• To recognize institutions running degree/ diplomate for education

• To prescribe the minimum standard of education for the professionals.

• To maintain a central Rehabilitation Register o Institution for the purpose of possessing the recognized rehabilitation qualification.

ISSUES:

If we talk and look into where India is lacking in the health laws, there are various areas which can be look.

1) First, we can start by saying that a large number of disorders in India can be easily prevented including birth, maternal condition, malnutrition and various other medical problems that occur to the human being during the time of accidents and trauma but However, the health sector of India has failed and unsatisfied with the service of them as most of the time, they are not able to respond to disability and especially in the backward rural India. If we see one of the main reason behind is the Lack of proper access to proper health care, aids, kits, tools and equipment.

2) This is also considered as one of the main issue one of the main issue i.e. Poorly trained health workers have been recruited in health care facilities and rehabilitation centres where they deals with the Disabled person.

3) The polices introduced and established by the government are good but the problem is the Poor implementation of policies and schemes that can hinder the inclusion of disabled people.

They are also various factors and barriers that comes in the way of a good service and care of the Disabled persons. As People who are facing disabilities face too many obstacles when they try to use health care facility in India, including:

1) Prohibitive cost

As prohibitive cost is one of the major factors including Cost of Health care and transportation which seems high over a low-income people.

2) Limited availability of services

The limited Service is also a problem and due Lack of adequate services that can be provided to the disabled is still a significant barrier to health care.

3) Physical obstacles

Buildings (hospitals, health centres, the infrastructure of these building are not so well established and best in structure except few centres in the country.

4) The skills and knowledge of health workers are not enough to handle disabled smoothly.

ANALYSIS:

If we see India has tried well in the sector of Disabled persons and have good legal framework regarding the Disabled as already discussed in this article above but one of the main reason due to which the India is lacking behind in the field of Health laws for Disables is the poor Implementation of Such policies in the country but still it is improving gradually and could be made much more faster as here are some few suggestion which will strengthen the position of India in Health laws for Disabled as Preventive health programs need to be strengthened and all children need to be screened at a young age rather being late in screening the same person

Secondly, there should be a Proper implementation of schemes should be ensured and for the same purpose there should be proper monitoring mechanisms and accountability of public funds.

CONCLUSION:

At the last, we can conclude that current health care system of India  is not efficient and thus led to  ineffectiveness as polices that are introduced are good but the implementation is causing the main problem as already discussed and we are suffering from a shortage of infrastructure development and specialists in this area resulting in deterioration of the quality of life and health care for the mentally ill and Disable person but they. Are few things which can be implemented by government that can help to strengthen the position of the Disabled as  Governments can do these things to drastically improve health outcomes for people suffering with disability by just improving access to Good quality, affordable health care services which can make the optimum utilization of available resources.

REFERENCES:

(1) (Medind.nic.in, 2020) <http://medind.nic.in/daa/t15/i1/daat15i1p195.pdf> accessed 2 July 2020

(2) ‘Disability And Health’ (Who.int, 2020) <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health> accessed 2 July 2020

(3) ‘Issues Related to Persons with Disability’ (Drishti IAS, 2020) < https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/issues-related-to-persons-with-disability > accessed 2 July 2020