Kerala assembly passes bill on public health

The Kerala Assembly passed the Kerala Public Health Bill 2023 on Wednesday–a comprehensive law concerning the public health of the state focusing on holistic development and addressing health concerns arising out of climate change.

According to Health Minister Veena George, the Kerala Legislative Assembly passed a comprehensive law related to the public health of Kerala using feminine pronouns.

“This is the first bill in the country written entirely with feminine pronouns. All laws enacted in the country are described in the masculine pronoun. But in this bill, ‘she’ in the text applies to all genders,” said Veena George.

The Legislative Assembly Select Committee finalised the bill by collecting opinions from the public, people’s representatives, health experts, various organisations in the health sector, etc. There were 15 members on the select committee, including the health minister.

What is the Kerala public health bill?
The Kerala Public Health Bill has been introduced as a uniform law to meet new public health challenges and consolidate and codify the two previous laws–the Travancore Cochin Public Health Act of 1955 and the Madras Hospital Act of 1939.

The bill was introduced and passed by the legislature in view of the need to combat new viruses, pathogens, infectious diseases, heightened threat of the spill over of zoonotic diseases, epidemics as part of climate change and human-animal interactions, making provisions for welfare of migrant labourers, food safety, blood banks and blood safety, biomedical waste management, tackling anti-microbial resistance and even ensuring adequate toilet facilities in public spaces.

The bill also aims to provide a conducive environment (including creation of open spaces and facilities to help people become physically active) to embrace lifestyle changes. The bill lays emphasis on the need for special care and attention for the vulnerable,including the elderly, chronically bedridden and the disabled.

The new bill has been drafted on the basis of a much broader premise that public health protection has to be on the basis of the One Health approach and that beyond mere diagnosis and curative services, public health should focus on improving the social determinants of health such as clean water and environment, sanitation and waste management.

A provision of the Bill states that the Director of Health Services will be the State Public Health Authority, with powers to constitute ad hoc public health advisory committees to manage public health emergencies. The state/district and local health authorities will prepare annual action plans before the commencement of every financial year, charting out the activities that need to be taken up in advance to prevent seasonal epidemics and manage their impact on public health.

Every health-care establishment, public or private, is required to report data on any communicable/notifiable disease they treat to the local health authority and follow the standard treatment guidelines issued by the Director of Health Services.

The bill also requires local bodies to earmark a portion of the health budget for implementing programmes for the prevention and control of non-communicable disease. India Today