RSS passes resolution on effective health care and affordable medical services

Resolution 1 – Need for effective health care and easy access to affordable medical services

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi  Sabha 2016
11-13 March 2016, Nagaur, Rajasthan

Resolution No. 1

Need for effective health care and easy access to affordable medical services

It is most essential to pursue healthy and hygienic life style and provide access to medical facilities to the common people, for ensuring healthy and disease free life for all the citizens. Today, when the diseases arising out of unhealthy life styles are growing fast, medical services are becoming out of access for common citizens due to forbidding cost. Consequently, innumerable families are either getting indebted or large number of families are even deprived of their means of subsistence for want of treatment of the earning members of the family. Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha expresses its deep concern over this state.

For the sound health, it is most necessary to accord significance to healthy diet, way of -living and lifestyle along with virtuousness, spirituality, yog, daily exercise and cleanliness. Children should be vaccinated timely. It is also very significant that society becomes free from all kinds of intoxications.  Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha is of the opinion that all the conscious citizens, including the sawaymsevaks should endeavour to arouse wider public awareness in this direction.

On account of concentration of medical facilities in the large towns, there is shortage of medical facilities in the remote and rural areas. Large number of people are deprived of medical facilities due to inadequate medical facilities and shortage of medical personnel, and the long queues for admission, diagnosis and treatment. Rising cost of medical education is one of the major causes for the expensive medical services and deterioration in their quality and credibility. Quality medical services should be accessible to all citizens, including women and children in the country. For this, well-functioning medical services of all kinds and systems need to be expanded across the country especially in rural and tribal areas. Information technology should be effectively used for the continuity in treatment and expert counsel.

Hospitals run by various social, religious and community organisations with charitable and philanthropic attitude at various places in the country, have been providing treatment to the common people in society very effectively and judiciously. Government support needs to be extended to such endeavours, worth emulation. Appreciating all such endeavours, the Pratinidhi Sabha calls upon the country’s industry groups, voluntary and social organisations and charitable trusts to further come forward in this direction. From this perspective, public and community partnerships and co-operative institutions need to be promoted.

The schemes of free distribution of medicines started in some states in last few years and the proposal made for 3000 generic medicine centres by the central government in the recent budget are welcome moves. To bring medicines within the reach of common people, promotion of generic medicines, effective control of drug prices and making of the patents regime humane is necessary. To ensure the quality of medicines, they should be regularly tested in the laboratories.

Standardisation and development of methods of testing of medicines of Ayurvedic, Unani and other systems is also important.

The Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha calls upon all the countrymen, including swayamsevaks, voluntary organisations and the government to endeavour to make lives of all citizens disease free by awakening the society for healthy life style, child and mother’s healthcare, eradication of malnourishment and de-addiction against intoxication. For making all kinds of medical services accessible to common people, the central and state governments should bring requisite improvement in the infrastructure, policies and procedures, with the allocation of adequate resources. For this, coordinated expansion, regulation, teaching and research be promoted in all the systems of medicine, and the regulatory mechanism and statutory provisions be executed transparently.