Is the provision of medical facilities part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution?

Yes. The provision of medical facilities to one and all is an essential component of the right to life guaranteed under Article 21, and the States have committed themselves to provide them in furtherance of the duty and vision enshrined in Part IV of the Constitution. Because the States have not been able to develop the requisite medical infrastructure in proportion to the population, they have facilitated and promoted private entities in the medical field, and the States themselves now look towards those entities to provide basic and specialized medical facilities to the public at large.

Constitution of India — Arts. 21, 32, 38, 39, 47 — List II (State List) — Public health — Private hospitals — Pricing of drugs — Policy decisions — Judicial restraint — Constitution of India — Art. 32 — Policy decisions — Scope for mandatory directions — Held: Issues of paramount public importance that primarily involve policy decisions are for the policy-makers, who are best equipped to take a holistic view and formulate the guidelines; mandatory directions that would hamper the growth of hospitals in the private sector are not advisable. (¶15, 17) Constitution of India — Art. 21, Part IV — Medical facilities — Right to life — Held further: Provision of medical facilities to one and all is an essential component of the right to life, and where the requisite medical infrastructure falls short of the population the States have themselves facilitated private entities and look to them. (¶13) Constitution of India — List II (State List) — Public health and hospitals — State competence — Held further: Public health and sanitation, hospitals and dispensaries fall in the State List, so regulation of this kind must come from the State Governments keeping their local conditions in mind; writ petition disposed of with a direction to consider the issue. (¶16, 18)

One judgment a day. That's the whole habit.

Read the full text of SIDDHARTH DALMIA & ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. — and get the Supreme Court's output as a five-minute daily read, with plain-language headnotes and the questions each judgment settles.

Free forever plan · 30 seconds · data stays in India