Law and Public Health

Course Type	Course Code	No. Of Credits
Discipline Core	SPG2PH414	2

Semester and Year Offered: 3^rd Semester; 2^nd Year

Course Coordinator and Team: N. Nakkeeran and Samik Chowdhury

Email of course coordinator: nakkeeran@aud.ac.in

Pre-requisites: None

Aim:

To introduce students to the intersections of public health, state, and law; and to the idea of welfare state and public health as a public good that a state should advance.
To make the students aware of the position of health, public health and right to health in the Constitution of India and how courts have subsequently interpreted them.
To introduce students to specific laws those oversee the rights and duties of the individuals, groups, governments, businesses etc. in the arena of public health.

Course Outcomes: On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

To be able to read and understand a legal document
To be able to differentiate between different forms of legal instruments.
To clearly articulate the position of health and public health in a modern state vis-à-vis the citizens and specifically the position of right to health within the legal architecture of the country and in general.
To be familiar with a select set of laws and regulations pertaining to health and public health and be able to apply this familiarity to analyze relevant public health situations

Brief description of modules/ Main modules:

Module 1: Basics of law and public health

This module will start with discussions on the basics of law, different legal instruments, their respective status organisation - the meanings of constitutional provisions, legislations and judicial pronouncements; followed by an elaboration in to changes in legal processes with rapidly changing public health domain with an increasing need for technical inputs and the ecosystem within which the legal system operates needs. The second part of this module will give an elaboration on intersections of public health, state, and law; the link between public health ethics, laws and policies; the Indian public health landscape: health care providers, etc. – their duties, obligations, responsibilities, acts like the Indian medical council Act, etc and a discussion on public health and the Constitution.The third unit of this module will take up discussion of the scope and status of state level laws related to public health enacted. The final unit of this module will introduce students to the nature, scope and status of global / international health regulations and regulatory instruments on different aspects of public health.

Module 2: Regulation of public health and health care provisioning

This module will specifically look into legal instruments that regulate public health and health care provisioning. It will include discussions on the Epidemic disease control act 1897, draft Public Health Bill 2017, Clinical Establishments Act (2010), legal provisions to regulate health insurance, laws around drugs and medical technology, National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, and relevant provisions in consumer protection law.These discussions will also include the status of some of these central acts such as drug control, clinical establishment etc in states and selected relevant Acts enacted by states. This may include public health acts of one or two States like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, AP, UP, MP, Goa and Assam; Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishments (Regulations) Rules, 2018.Likewise, relevant international public health regulations / conventions will also be discussed, which will include selected regulations from International Health Regulations (revised) 2005; Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework 2011; relevant provisions on International health worker mobility and trade in services in GATS, WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel

Module 3: Health of vulnerable groups and law

This module will focus on legal instruments that aim to protect the rights and promote the health of vulnerable groups, including but not limited to women, LGBTQI persons, children, aged populations, ‘particularly vulnerable tribal groups’, people living with disability, people living with HIV, those with mental health concerns, those involved in occupations like manual scavenging, waste-picking. Relevant international and state-level laws will also be introduced in this module. This section will also include a brief discussion on the issue of balancing medical technology and digital surveillance used in public health in one hand and its impact on breach of individual freedom and human rights and available legal provisions that covers this ground.

Given the length of this course, one or two key acts will be covered in detail and students will be encouraged to engage with others depending on their interest as part of assessments

Module 4: Introduction to other specific public health laws

This final module will provide space to discuss some of the other public health laws. These may include those on Environmental law and public health - Pollution, Sanitation, waste management, manual scavenging, waste picking; regulations on occupational health concerns, Food safety and Tobacco control. Here too relevant international and state-level laws will also be introduced. Judicial pronouncements on occupation health concerns like silicosis, asbestosis beedi workers will be discussed as case-studies in this module.

Assessment Details with weights:

A written assignment or class tests to assess understanding of basics of law in public health (50%)
End semester summative assessment (50%)

Reading List (For full reading list refer to the course outline in SCAP format)

Bahurupi Y, et al., Epidemic diseases act 1897 to public health bill 2017: Addressing the epidemic challenges. Indian J Public Health 2020;64:S253-5.
Desai, M., Mahabal, KB., (eds.) Health Care Case Law in India A Reader, Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT) And India Centre for Human Rights & Law (ICHRL), 2007, Pages 1-16; 17 -35; 139-154; 169-176
Duffy, RM and Kelly BD., India's Mental Healthcare Act, 2017: Content, context, controversy, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 62 (2019) 169–178
Gostin, LO., and Katz., R., “The International Health Regulations: The Governing Framework for Global Health Security” The Milbank Quarterly, Vol. 94, No. 2, 2016 (pp. 264-313)
Gruskin, S., “Rights-Based Approaches to Health: Something for Everyone” Health and Human Rights, 2006, Vol. 9, No. 2, (2006), pp. 5-9.
Koonan, S., “Right to Sanitation in India Nature and Scope”, in K.J. Joy and SaritaBhagat (eds), Right to Sanitation in India: Nature, Scope and Voices from the Margins (Pune: Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India, 2016), p. 1-14.
Kothari J., and Raturi R., (eds) The Right To Health of Persons With Disabilities In India: Access to and Non-Discrimination in Health Care for Persons with Disabilities, HRLN, 2014
Manu M, Anand G. A review of medical device regulations in India, comparison with European Union and way-ahead.PerspectClin Res 2022;13:3-11.
Mehrotra R, Mehrotra V, Jandoo T. Tobacco control legislation in India: Past and present. Indian J Cancer 2010;47, Suppl S1:75-80
Mohanty, TR., Law, Liberty and Right: A discursive analysis of PCPNDT Act, Redes – RevistaElectrDirSoc Canoas, 3(2):97-120, Nov 2015. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/5402949.pdf
Nandi, S., et al Unravelling The Clinical Establishment Act in Chhattisgarh: A Campaign and a Study, BMJ Glob Health 2016;1(Suppl 1):A2 –A43
Patil, A., “Right to Health and Healthcare – Constitutional Directives and Judicial Pronouncements”, Indian Journal of Applied Research 8(9)2018: 67-68.
Pizzarossa, LB., Here to Stay: The Evolution of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in International Human Rights Law, Laws 2018, 7, 29; doi:10.3390/laws7030029
Sanyal, Dikhsa, The Right to Health in the Context of HIV Healthcare in India: Some Thoughts on the New HIV Bill, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/humanrights/2017/07/19/the-right-to-health-in-the-context-of-hiv-healthcare-in-india-some-thoughts-on-the-new-hiv-bill/
Shankar S., and Swaroop, K., Manual Scavenging in India: The Banality of an Everyday Crime, CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion Vol. 2 No. 1 pp. 67–76 April 2021.
Suchila, Legal Framework Regulating Food Safety: A Critical Appraisal, International Journal on Consumer Law and Practice, Vol.8, pp.78-93.