IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.15578 of 2007 Date of decision: 7th August, 2009 World Human Rights Protection Council … Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others … Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE T.S. THAKUR HOB’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Ranjan Lakhanpal, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Rupinder Khosla, Additional Advocate General, Punjab for respondents No.1 and 2. Mr. Randhir Singh, Additional Advocate General, Haryana for respondents No.3 and 4. Mr. O.S. Batalvi, Advocate for respondent No.5. Mrs. Jai Shree Thakur, Advocate for respondents No.6 and 7. Notes: 1. Whether Reporters of local newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. Civil Writ Petition No. 15578 of 2007 Inspired to provide health care to the poorest of the poor, so that they are not deprived of medical facility, for lack of resources, Government of India enacted a scheme to give financial assistance, created a corpus, evolved mechanism for delivery of aid, yet the scheme remains a non-starter for lack of awareness on the part of the public at large. This, in essence, is the issue which engages our attention in the present writ petition. Petitioner World Human Rights Protection Council has filed present writ petition, purportedly in public interest. A news report carried by ‘The Times of India’, a lead newspaper, on 2nd October, 2007, under the caption “Woman puts son, herself on sale to save husband”, prompted the petitioner to file present petition. The newspaper report portrays tragic event in the life of one Mrs.Harsh Sharma married to Bhupinder Singh, who met with an accident and as a result thereof went into permanent coma. The report further states that Mrs. Harsh Sharma sold her entire belongings, including the ornaments, for providing treatment to her husband. Unable to mobilize further resources, she had put herself and her five years old son for sale. The writ petition canvass that the State is duty bound to provide free medical care to all the citizens, who are unable to afford medical care and no person can be allowed to die, simply because he is not able to afford medical treatment for lack of resources. State of Punjab filed reply by way of counter affidavit of Deputy Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, in which it was stated that ex-gratia grant of Rs.50,000/- has been paid to Mrs.Harsh Sharma. The State of Punjab has established ‘Punjab Nirogi Yojna’ (State Illness Fund) for the year 2007-08 to help poor people to meet out the expenses 2 Civil Writ Petition No. 15578 of 2007 of life threatening diseases, for which the treatment is beyond their reach. As per the reply submitted by the State of Punjab, people below poverty line, living in villages and cities, whose names are identified in the list of BPL Persons, already surveyed by the State Government, along with other poor persons, whose family income is less than Rs.4,000/- per month, irrespective of BPL status, are entitled to avail benefit of the said scheme. The financial support under ‘Punjab Nirogi Yojna’ is upto Rs.1.50 lakh for meeting expenditure of ailing persons after a certificate is issued by the head of the Medical Facility/ Medical Superintendent and is counter signed by the Civil Surgeon. The affidavit narrates various life threatening diseases, for cure of which financial assistance is provided. They are Heart Diseases and Heart Surgery, Cancer, Kidney and Urinary Diseases, Orthopaedic, Thallassemia, Bone Marrow Tranplant, Aids, Chronic Mental Illness with Surgical Treatment and Brain Tumour with Surgical Treatment. Dr.Avinash Sharma, Director General, Health Services Haryana filed reply by way of affidavit on behalf of the State of Haryana. The broad features of the scheme and entitlement of the persons have been stated in the affidavit. The beneficiaries have been specified to be the persons living below poverty line, possessing yellow and pink ration cards. The affidavits submitted by the Senior Medical Officer, Health and Family Welfare, Union of India, Regional Office and the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Chandigarh Administration are also on similar lines. Wide publicity of the scheme, in our opinion, is the remedy, which will redress the grievance raised in the present writ petition. The scheme is called Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (National Illness Assistance Fund). The scheme provides for financial assistance to patients, living below poverty line, who are suffering from the major life 3 Civil Writ Petition No. 15578 of 2007 threatening diseases, to receive medical treatment at any of the super specialty hospitals/ institutes under the Government or other Government hospitals. The financial assistance to such patients is to be released in the form of ‘one-time grant’. All State Governments/ Union Territory Administrations were advised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to set up Illness Assistance Fund in their respective States/ Union Territories. It was decided that grant-in-aid from the Central Government would be released to each of the States/ Union Territories, where such funds are set up. The grant-in-aid to the States/ Union Territories to be provided by Union of India was to the extent of 50 per cent of the contribution made by the State Governments/ Union Territories to the State Fund, subject to maximum of Rs.5.00 crores to the States with large number and percentage of population below poverty line and Rs.2.00 crores to other States/ Union Territories. To derive benefit of above said scheme, the scheme formulated by the State of Punjab is called ‘Punjab Nirogi Yojna, by State of Haryana ‘Arogya Kosh Scheme’ and by the Union Territory Chandigarh ‘Rogi Kalyan Sewa’. Mr. Ranjan Lakhanpal, counsel appearing for the petitioner has provided us a copy of the press release issued by the Health Minister in press conference held on 30th December, 2008, wherein the achievements for the year 2008 and roadmap for the year 2009 of Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Punjab have been noticed. The Government’s achievements regarding ‘Punjab Nirogi Yojna’ (State Illness Fund) read as under: “5. State Illness Fund (Punjab Nirogi Yojana) The State has established a Corpus of Rs.1.50 crore to provide financial assistance to the poor people (BPL families) 4 Civil Writ Petition No. 15578 of 2007 for life threatening diseases up to Rs.1.50 lakh. In the Corpus Centre and the State provide fund in the ratio 1:2. The assistance can be provided up to Rs.3.00 lakh i.e. Rs.1.50 lakh more from Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (National Illness Fund). So far financial assistance amounting to Rs.2.75 lakh has been provided to four beneficiaries in the state. The State has requested the GOI to allow economically poor people apart from BPL families to avail financial assistance under the Corpus.” A perusal of the above reveals that total amount of financial assistance disbursed by the State of Punjab in the whole year 2008 amounted to Rs.2.75 lakh and that too only to the four persons. The situation is no different in other States. We have heard counsel for the parties. Counsel for the State of Punjab, Haryana, Union of India and Union Territory, Chandigarh have stated that as and when somebody, who is entitled to the treatment as per the scheme, approaches the authorities, according to the procedure prescribed, due amount is released to him for undertaking medical treatment. Beneficiaries of the scheme have been defined to be the persons, who are living below poverty line or having meager resources. In the State of Punjab, monthly income of less than Rs.4,000/- has been fixed as a parameter for grant of financial aid to the persons suffering from life threatening diseases. State of Haryana has included persons living below poverty line and possessing yellow and pink ration cards. The need on the part of the Government is to reach this target group and make them aware regarding existence of the scheme. Another Central Government sponsored scheme ‘Anganwadi’ has established child-care and mother- care centers. These centers provide outreach services to poor families in 5 Civil Writ Petition No. 15578 of 2007 need of immunization, healthy food and a learning environment for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. As per the scheme, one Anganwadi worker is allotted a population of 1000 persons. The Anganwadi worker is trained in various aspects of health, nutrition and child development. The Anganwadi Centers have been set up in the States of Punjab, Haryana and Union Territory Chandigarh. Number of Non-Government Organizations are also active in providing health-care and education to the persons living in slums and below poverty line. The community participation, through various organizations engaged in charity, is also there. There seems to be either slackness in the implementation of this Government scheme or lack of awareness on the part of the end user, i.e. the beneficiaries of the scheme. Therefore, we are of the view that the Union Territories and State Governments should upgrade existing mechanism and ought to widely publicize the scheme. In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, we dispose off the present writ petition, with following directions: (i) The State Governments shall put display boards in the Government hospitals, wherein broad features of the scheme, benefits envisaged and entitlement of the persons shall be mentioned; (ii) The Anganwadi workers, in their Orientation Programme, shall be made aware about the scheme of providing financial aid to the sick and ailing, so that they are able to propagate the scheme to the persons who come in their contact; (iii) The District Administration shall associate Non Government Organizations and other Charity Organizations active in the 6 Civil Writ Petition No. 15578 of 2007 community, so that the scheme is widely publicized through their participation; and (iv) The concerned Government may also devise other means and modes to publicize the scheme. No order as to costs. [T. S. THAKUR] CHIEF JUSTICE [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE August 7, 2009 rps 7