Kashish Sharma
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Written By: Kashish Sharma | Updated : January 25, 2023 11:59 AM IST
An argument has been raised that the ban on commercial surrogacy might be robbing the surrogates of their right over their bodies and deny them the opportunity to exercise their right to give birth.
In a new development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the state legislature cannot enact laws in respect of modern medicine or allopathic medicine that might contradict the standards recognized by the central law.
The court emphasized that with the intention to make healthcare accessible to rural areas, the state policies must not "short-change" the citizens residing in rural areas or subject them to direct or indirect forms of unfair discrimination on the basis of their place of birth or residence.
The bench said: "Any variation between the standards of qualification required for medical practitioners who render services in rural areas and the medical practitioners rendering services in urban or metropolitan areas must prescribe to constitutional values of substantive equality and non-discrimination."
As per reports, the qualifications necessary for medical practitioners providing different levels of primary, secondary or tertiary medical services in all settings (rural as well) are decided by expert and statutory authorities entrusted with the mandate by the Parliament.
Justice Nagarathna who narrated the judgement said while the state has every right to devise policies for public health and medical education, due to peculiar social and financial considerations, these policies must not cause any unfair disadvantage to any class of citizens, especially owing to their place of residence.
The judgement came in light of an appeal against the Gauhati High Court order that had struck down the Assam Rural Health Regulatory Authority Act, 2004, on the grounds that it contradicts the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.
The Assam government had introduced a three-year diploma course to address the issue of the shortage of qualified medical professionals by producing a cadre of doctors allowed to practice modern medicine, to a very limited extent.
(With inputs from IANS)
