SRINAGAR: Ahead of the Budget Session, a broad coalition of civil society and people’s organisations has issued a joint statement demanding a decisive shift in Jammu and Kashmir’s health spending, declaring the right to health “non-negotiable” and constitutionally binding.
In a press statement issued through noted climate justice and public health rights activist Dr Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, the collective urged the government to make public healthcare the moral, constitutional and fiscal priority of Budget 2026–27. “Health is not charity, not a scheme, but a right,” the statement said, calling current allocations inadequate in view of population needs, disease burden and ecological vulnerability.
The coalition pointed out that while health budget allocations have shown nominal increases over the past four years—rising from approximately ₹6,300 crore in 2022–23 to ₹7,200 crore in 2025–26—real per capita and inflation-adjusted growth remains marginal. Spending, it argued, continues to favour tertiary care expansion, while primary healthcare infrastructure remains weak. As a share of overall Union Territory expenditure, health spending is “far below” constitutional and international benchmarks.
Citing World Health Organisation recommendations of public health spending at 5 per cent of GDP, the statement noted that India spends around 2.1 to 2.3 per cent, with Jammu and Kashmir’s effective spending hovering near this lower national average. “This gap is not fiscal in nature; it is political,” the coalition asserted.
The statement grounded its demands in established constitutional jurisprudence, recalling a series of Supreme Court judgments that have recognised the right to health as an integral part of Article 21. These include Consumer Education and Research Centre vs Union of India (1995), Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity vs State of West Bengal (1996), State of Punjab vs Mohinder Singh Chawla (1997), Parmanand Katara vs Union of India (1989), and Devika Biswas vs Union of India (2016). Budgetary neglect, the coalition said, therefore amounts to constitutional non-compliance rather than administrative discretion.
Drawing attention to deep-rooted health inequities, the organisations highlighted the plight of pastoral Gujjar Bakerwal communities, Chopans, fisherfolk around Wullar Lake, forest fringe villages and remote mountain regions such as Pir Panjal, Uri, Machil, Karnah, Gureiz and Wadwan Valley. Many of these areas, the statement said, continue to suffer from non-functional primary health centres, seasonal absence of medical staff, broken referral systems, unsafe water and sanitation, and climate-induced health vulnerabilities—burdens that fall disproportionately on women.
The coalition also demanded stronger accountability mechanisms at the frontline level, particularly for Community Health Officers and Health Educators. It called for statutory performance frameworks linked to preventive outreach, community engagement and continuity of care, along with proactive disclosure of attendance and service delivery data under the Right to Information Act and the institutionalisation of community-level social audits.
Among its key demands, the coalition urged the government to commit to allocating at least 4 to 5 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir’s GSDP to health, prioritise funding for Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres and Health and Wellness Centres, and create dedicated budget lines for tribal, pastoral, mobile and border health services. It also sought integrated budgeting that links health with water safety and the environment, and treats mental health, women’s health, nutrition and occupational health as core concerns rather than peripheral schemes.
“A society that normalises preventable deaths, untreated illness and medical impoverishment cannot call itself just,” the statement said, urging the Budget Session to mark a shift “from symbolism to substance and from announcements to accountability.”
The declaration has been jointly issued by civil society and people’s organisations through Dr Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, advocate Naveed Bukhtiyar, Zahid Parwaz, Mustafa Rahi, Peer Mohideen and Sheikh Mohideen, and endorsed by more than 30 groups spanning public health, environmental protection, women’s rights, pastoral unions and climate justice platforms across Jammu and Kashmir.
