WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

Via REPROHEALTHLAW - University of Toronto, Canada

 

INDIA - GROUNDBREAKING COURT CASES ON MATERNAL MORTALITY

Press Release
04/06/2010

In a historic decision the Delhi High Court ordered compensation for
violation of constitutional and reproductive rights of two
impoverished women. The judgment will have immense health policy
implications in India, where a maternal death occurs every five minutes.

In the case of Laxmi Mandal vs Deen Dayal Hari Nager Hospital & Ors
W.P. 8853/2008 Justice Muralidhar instructed the State of Haryana, to
pay compensation of Rs 2.4 lakhs to the family of Shanti Devi who
passed away during childbirth on 20 January this year. The Court
found the Respondents in violation of Shanti Devi's right to life and
health, reiterating that her death was preventable.

In the case of Jaitun v Maternity Home, MCD, Jangpura & Ors W.P. No.
10700/2009 High Court directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and
Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi to pay Rs 50,000
compensation to Fatima for the violation of her fundamental rights by
being compelled to give birth to her daughter Alisha under a tree, on
account of the denial of basic medical services.

"These petitions are essentially about the protection and enforcement
of the basic, fundamental and human right to life under Article 21 of
the Constitution. These petitions focus on two inalienable survival
rights that form part of the right to life: the right to health
(which would include the right to access and receive a minimum
standard of treatment and care in public health facilities) and in
particular the reproductive rights of the mother. The other right
which calls for immediate protection and enforcement in the context
of the poor is the right to food".

The Court underlined that the cases demonstrated a complete failure
of the public health system and a failure in implementation of
Government Schemes, including the National Maternity Benefit Scheme
(NMBS), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Janani
Soraksha Yojana (JSY) - a scheme designed to reduce maternal and
neo-natal mortality by encouraging institutional delivery for poor
pregnant women. The judgment further directed the Respondents to
ensure that the payment of Rs 500, eight to twelve weeks prior to
delivery to all Below Poverty Line (BPL) pregnant women to ensure
their proper nutrition under the NMBS, be ensured as per Supreme
Court Order in PUCL v UOI 196/2001, irrespective of age and number of
previous births in all states in India.

"Both the cases point to the complete failure of the implementation
of the schemes. With the women not receiving attention and care in
the critical weeks preceding the expected dates of delivery, they
were deprived of accessing minimum health care at either homes or at
the public health institutions (.) It points to the failure of the
referral system where a poor person who is sent to a private hospital
cannot be assured of quality and timely health services."

Drawing on international law Justice Muralidhar underlined that women
have the right to control their body and decide when they wish to
conceive. The Court also pointed out that women carry the burden of
poverty in that they have to prove their BPL status when trying to
access health facilities and accordingly ordered that "no pregnant
women be denied access to medical treatment regardless of her social
economical status".

"There is no assurance of "portability" of the schemes across the
states. In the present case, Shanti Devi traveled from Bihar to
Haryana and then to Delhi. In Haryana she was clearly unable to
access the public health services. At Delhi she had to once again
show that she had a BPL card, and on being unable to do so, she was
denied access to medical facilities. For the migrant workers this can
pose a serious problem. Instructions will have to be issued to ensure
that if a person is declared BPL in any state of the country and is
availing of the public health services in any part of the country,
such person should be assured of continued availability of such
access to public health care services wherever such person moves."

"It may be difficult to quantify the actual loss suffered by either
family as a result of the failure by the State Government to deliver
the benefits under the schemes to each of these women during their
pregnancies. What is clear in Shanti Devi's case is that the maternal
mortality was clearly avoidable".

"In the case of Fatema soon after the baby was delivered, she
required nutrition and supplements which were denied till the Court's
intervention.


Even the ICDS benefits were given only after the Court's
intervention. It is well possible that but for the Court's
intervention, the baby and the mother may have been deprived of the
benefits which would have caused irreparable injury and possibly loss of life".

"It was not denied by learned counsel appearing for the Government of
Haryana, the GNCTD as well as the Central Government that as of now
there is no inbuilt component for reparations under the schemes.
Given that the budget outlay of the schemes is in several hundreds of
crores, it is indeed surprising that there is no inbuilt component
for reparations"

The maternal mortality ratio (number of women dying per 100,000 live
births) in India is higher than in 120 countries, including
neighboring states of Bangladesh, China, Nepal and Sri Lanka. More
than 117,000 women and girls die each year in India from largely
preventable pregnancy- related causes.


This is the highest number of maternal deaths in any country
world-wide, which accounts for almost 25% of the global maternal death burden.

For Full High Court judgment or further details, contact:

Marta Kasztelan
Human Rights Law Network
Reproductive Rights Unit
Mob: 09717701604
kasztelan.marta@gmail.com





================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.