Unconstitutional to prescribe different qualifications for doctors to provide services in urban, rural areas: SC

In a recent judgment, the Supreme Court stated that any variation in the standards of the required qualifications for medical practitioners who serve in the rural areas with those providing services in urban and metropolitan areas violates the constitutional values of substantive equality and non-discrimination.

"While the State has every right to devise policies for public health and medical education, with due regard to peculiar social and financial considerations, these policies ought not to cause unfair disadvantage to any class of citizens. The citizens residing in rural areas have an equal right to access healthcare services, by duly qualified staff. Policies for enhancing access to rural healthcare must not shortchange 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," observed the Apex Court bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and BV Nagarathna as it dismissed the Assam Rural Health Regulatory Authority Act, 2004.

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Unconstitutional To Prescribe Different Qualifications For Doctors To Provide Services In Rural And Urban Areas: Supreme Court