IS FREE MEDICAL TESTING FOR COVID-19 IN INDIA JUSTIFIED? – TWO SIDES OF THE COIN

BY SIDDHARTH SONI

 

This article would try to explore two different sides of the debate: Is free medical testing of Covid-19 in India justified?

Free Medical testing of Covid-19 in India justified: –

In the words of the great economist Amartya Sen, ‘Economic Growth without investment in human development is unsustainable and unethical’.

The demand for the basis of free medical testing comes from the basic premise that health is a human right and should not be denied to anyone. The WHO Constitution (1946) envisions the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being. Amongst all the rights to which we are entitled, the right to health may be the most intersectional and crucial. The Right to health comes within the ambit of right to life and liberty under Article 21 of our Constitution, as is confirmed by various Indian judicial pronouncements such as Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, State of Punjab and Ors. v. Ram Lubhaya Bagga, Paschim Bangal Khet Mazdoor Samity and Ors. v. State of West Bengal and Anr and which further casts an obligation on states under Article 47 to provide medical aid to every person and to work for the welfare of the general public. While we are not in an ideal situation with Covid-19, diagnostic testing in today’s times is of utmost importance. In the absence of successful therapy or a vaccine, diagnostic testing becomes a valuable tool. Testing leads to quick identification of cases, quick treatment for those people and immediate isolation to prevent spread. Limited tests could cover the true toll of the disease in the world’s second most populous country. Lessons learned from SARS and Ebola show the importance of early detection. We have one health system for the poor, another for the middle class and another for the rich and the super-rich. What we need to do is to move from this fractured system towards a single healthcare system for everyone. The Hon’ble Supreme court in its own modified order of Shashank Deo Sudhi vs. Union of India, limited free testing only to Ayushman Bharat Yojana beneficiaries, which covers just a small fraction of poor people in the country. There’s a big chunk of people just above the poverty line that are also struggling and there are middle-class workers who have been laid off and can’t afford to pay for their families to get tested. In order to make free testing available to the public at large, private hospitals and laboratories should be made to participate in this fight against Covid-19. Considering the poor state of public health infrastructure, the service of the private sector is critical to combat Covid-19. In today’s times, the public interest must outweigh the private. The apex court seems to have ignored the fact that people are forced to depend on the private sector due to the poor public health infrastructure. The court also does not appear to have verified the rationale behind the cost (₹4,500) of the diagnostic test. It has also failed to look at the ways and means to implement its interim order and should have instead asked government to supply testing kits to the lab and formulate a fair compensation formula for the service by private labs.

 

Moving towards conclusion, India currently spends about 2% of the total taxes collected from people. This is four times less than what we spend on pensions and 5 times less than the money spent on the defence sector. So, the pandemic is still, in India, in an early stage, and it will play out. India should learn from its equivalent countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam where the central governments fund for the covid-19 testing and is made available to the public for free.

 

Free Medical testing of Covid-19 in India is not justified: –

 

A strong economy is vital to maintain a healthy environment.

The right to healthcare is a self-defeating argument, this is because everyone has the rights to keep the fruits of their own labor. Hence, no one has the right to receive free stuff be it food, clothing or healthcare. This is because these goods need to be produced. Therefore, if they are given away for free, it would be an infringement on the rights of the people who are producing it. Just like patients have rights, the physicians and doctors have human rights too. It would be an infringement of their right to earn a living if the government asked them to provide services for free. Right to work and subsequently the right to earn a living have been recognised as a fundamental right inalienable in the ‘right to life’ by the Judiciary in its Olga Tellis judgement. Article 41 also mandates the state to make effective provisions for securing the right to work. If testing is made available for free, then it will be the tax-payers who would have to bear the price. When governments start taxing one citizen to provide for the healthcare of the other, they are just transferring the fruits of the labour of one man to another. Healthcare is not a right but rather a responsibility. The government does not have the right to take money from people who judiciously save for the future and give it those who don’t. Securing your health has always been an individual prerogative, and it must remain so. Any further stress on these tax payers will have catastrophic impacts on the Indian Economy. When something is free, it is not valued by the customers. The same goes for medical testing. People with the slightest of symptoms would also go for medical testing, if it is made free. More and more testing would lead to confusion and chaos, and people who are actually positive would not be able to receive treatment. Also, free medical testing would create excess demand which would ultimately lead to shortage of resources. Medical testing is supposed to be like any other service. It is entirely dependent on the availability of testing kits, PPE kits, other protective equipments, medical staff etc. The private sector is being roped in to provide free medical testing. The capped price of Rs. 4500 for the imported and expensive testing kits, would serve as a helping hand in lifting the nation’s economy in such difficult times of crisis. This price is an ICMR approved price and the private labs and hospitals do not intended to make any profits. The Supreme court’s ruling of Shashank Deo Sudhi vs. Union of India intends to make testing free for a large number people covered under the Ayushman Bharat (AB-PMJAY) Yojna and have shifted the price of such expensive and imported kits to the people who are tax payers and are considered as pillars of the Indian Economy. The court have also not laid down how these private players would be re-imbursed if they provide free medical testing. Testing more and more do not apply in India because the spread of the disease has been less severe than elsewhere. More and more free testing would cost the government money it needs to combat other diseases such as tuberculosis, malnutrition and HIV/AIDs. Also if testing is made available for free, it would result in less innovations, thus amounting to less and less patent filing all over. People, with innovative minds would refrain from making home-grown kits as they would not generate any revenue. Coming to conclusion, free testing for the current pandemic is a flawed approach and would have a grave impact on the Indian economy.

 

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency of the Indian government. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world analytic products as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of any Indian government State.

 

The author is a 2nd-year law student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune.