Guwahati: Public health physician and activist Dr Abhay Shukla on Saturday said stronger collaboration between health movements and the media is crucial for advancing the Right to Health in India, as he delivered the 9th Annual Dr Anamika Ray Memorial Trust (ARMT) Lecture, held online.
Dr Shukla, National Co-Convenor of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and a senior scientist at SATHI Pune, spoke on the theme “Amplifying Health Rights: The Transformative Role of Health Movement and Media”, drawing from nearly three decades of engagement with community and public health issues, particularly in Maharashtra.
During his lecture, Dr Shukla said India’s health system is facing a deepening crisis marked by denial of care, medical negligence, catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure and weak regulation, problems he said are being exacerbated by the increasing corporatisation of healthcare.
He stressed that sporadic public dissatisfaction with health sector failures needs to be channelled into sustained social pressure to bring about policy reform.
A member of the National Human Rights Commission’s core group on health, Dr Shukla outlined practical approaches to building partnerships between health movements and the media, arguing that such alliances could play a transformative role in strengthening accountability and protecting patients’ rights.
He spoke about his involvement in developing rights-based community monitoring and planning of health services, a process he has mentored across Maharashtra since 2007.
The initiative now covers more than a thousand villages and has helped communities reclaim and significantly improve the delivery of public health services.
He also referred to his work on Community Action for Nutrition since 2017 and his role in drafting the national Patients’ Rights Charter, later adopted by the NHRC and the Union Health Ministry.
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Dr Shukla has authored and co-authored several publications on India’s health system, including Dissenting Diagnosis, which examines malpractice in the private medical sector.
He has also co-edited books such as “Review of Health Care in India, Report on Health Inequities in Maharashtra and Health System in India – Crisis and Alternatives”, and is a founding member of the Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare.
Calling for closer engagement between health activists and journalists, Dr Shukla said collaborations between those working for the “health of the people” and those safeguarding the “health of democracy” are essential to meaningfully realise the Right to Health in the country.
The lecture was attended by media professionals, students and officials from India and abroad.
