Nepal Journ

Copyright © 2015 CEA& INEA. Published online by NepJOL-INASP. www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE For the first time in the history of Nepal, it promulgated the Constitution on 20 th September 2015. It was a rigorous exercise for Nepal which took the Constituent Assembly over eight years to complete. From the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) on 21 st November 2006 which ended the decade-long armed internal conflict. This constitution has replaced the 'interim' constitution, which was introduced after Nepal declared itself as a Federal Republic in 2007. The interim constitution of Nepal established a number of fundamental rights and guaranteed the full-fledged citizensovereignty. Among the major changes of this 2015 constitution is the introduction of a federal structure, although it is also social experiment for Nepal. Nepal has embarked on a bold new direction with its new Constitution covering socioeconomic, health, political and many other aspects of life of the people. The new Constitution [1] has guaranteed health as a ‘fundamental right.’ The Article 35 states that: 1) every citizen shall have right to get basic health care free of cost from the state; 2) no one will be restricted from emergency health care; 3) everyone shall have right to get information about his/her health care; 4) every citizen shall have equal access to health care; 4) every citizen shall have right to access to pure drinking water and sanitation. Several articles of the constitution, for example, Articles 17, 18, 28, 30, 35, 38, 39, 40, 42, 51, cover health-related issues from the perspective of ‘fundamental rights’ to individuals. This constitution has also enshrined health rights of many socially and culturally disadvantaged groups of people such as Dalits, people with disability, indigenous communities, and sexual and gender minority population. Similarly, families of martyrs, economically-disadvantaged people have been highlighted to be provided health care, education, having social security rights with priority. This indicates that the constitution aims to end inequalities in health outcomes as it emphasizes equity, which helps close gender and ethnic inequality gaps, and will have a significant impact on access to health care services. Interestingly, Nepal’s constitution includes much more on health and health care than for example the Constitution of the United States of America which has no mention of health whatsoever [2] or the Netherlands which mentions health only three times. Of the mentions to health two are legal clauses relating to law enforcement the protection of health, and setting rules for the protection of health, and the third mention in the Dutch constitution of health is about the Government taking measures to promote public health [3]. The fundamental rights and the directive principles in the 2015 constitution constitute a conscience of the nation. Article 51 which is about state policies focuses on the investments in the public health sector, access to quality health care services, promoting traditional medicine, increasing the health institutions and health care professions and insurance policy. Correspondence: Dr Padam Simkhada, Professor of International Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Email: [email protected] Received 1 December 2015/Revised 21 December 2015/Accepted 23 December 2015 Citation: Simkhada P, Regmi PR, Pant PR, van Teijlingen E, Sathian B. Stipulating citizen's fundamental right