Challenges faced by Health Right Practices in Tea Plantation Sector Community of Sri Lanka

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.