right, not as charity and gave communities a moral basis from which to claim international assistance when needed.

The Right to Health (RTH) has been accorded the status of an aspirational right in prominent international instruments, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), presented to the UN General Assembly in 1966 and adopted in 1976. These instruments relate RTH with human rights.

Article 25 of the UDHR says, 'Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age ormade in Part III of the Constitution of India in the category of Fundamental Rights. However, in various other forms, it has been enshrined in Articles 39 (e), 39 (f), 42 and 47 in the Directive Principles of State Policy. Elaborating the importance of the right to health, the Supreme Court in Menaka Gandhi vs Union of India, AIR 1978, SC 579, has held that healthcare is an inalienable part of the 'Life' contained in Article 21 of the Constitution.

Further, India is a signatory to the ICESCR, which directs states in terms of respecting, protecting and fulfilling the right to health. 'Respecting' the right to health signifies that governments must refrain from taking actions that inhibit or interfere with peoples' ability to enjoy their right. 'Protecting' the right