- The Delhi High Court has ordered the Centre to provide a timeline for achieving the Draft Health Policy 2020.
- The Centre had informed the court that the draft policy had been released in an affidavit, and it is still in deliberation.
NewDelhi, TheNewsDesk: The Delhi High Court has ordered the Centre to provide a timeline for achieving the Draft Health Policy 2020. It includes the recommendation for the treatment of rare diseases. The court said that “Right to Health is a fundamental right, and no child in our country should be deprived of treatment because of the drug being expensive.”
Justice Pratibha M Singh noted that the Centre had not finalized the health policy on rare diseases despite the lapse of one and half years since the court’s earlier direction. She stated that the Draft Health Policy 2020 has also “yet not seen the light of the day” while the initial one is kept in “abeyance.”
Hearing two pleas seeking treatment of children suffering from a rare genetic disease known as Duchene Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). It was beyond the parents’ capacity because of the high cost of drugs and cure; the single judge bench remarked that “such a policy cannot be left indefinitely when young human lives are on a stake.”
DMD is a difficult type of muscular dystrophy that fundamentally changes boys where the muscle starts weakening at a young age.
Throughout the conference, the Central Government reaching counsel, looking for the Ministry of Health, informed the court that they would not stand the whole cost of the treatment. Though, it would be made probable through benefactions by own parties and others. The Centre had informed the court that the draft policy had been released in an affidavit, and it is still in deliberation.
Source- Hindustan Times
