Abstract:
Good health is the best award of the life and it is vital for the development of a country.
According to UDHR (1948), WHO (1946), ICCSCR (1966), ICCPR (1966), every human
being is equally entitled to right to health without any discrimination, and member states
should take the necessary steps to function these rights. Sri Lanka maintains free health
service for every citizen without any discrimination. However, the estate sector community in
Sri Lanka is faced many health problems, and they are still under the poor health facilities in
Sri Lanka. Hence it is worthy to examine the challenges faced by health rights practices in the
estate sector community of Sri Lanka. The study used both primary & secondary data.
Primary data were based on the questionnaires, interviews and simple observation from
randomly selected 50 families in Keeragala estate in Kuruwita division of Rathnapura
district. Also 10 responsible officers from the Ministry of health and the Kuruwita division
were used as key informants for qualitative data.
The study found that, poor living conditions, low income level and low literacy level have
negatively affected for the health rights of the people and for inadequate shelter and sanitary
facilities. Husbandry, toilets, wells are concentrated within 3-4m distance for each other. The
public participation at the medical clinics is low. The public health service delivery proceass
is extremely poor. The government and the land owners have paid a poor attention on the
establishment of the health facilities in the area. There is no any NGO project or state funded
project functioned in the area for the development of health facilities of the people. The
awareness of the health habits and the health rights of the community is very low. Thus, the
health rights of the tea plantation sector community are neglected and concerned efforts are
needed to be made to ensure health right practicers in the area.
