Abstract The paper traces the progression of health rights in South Asia from its beginnings in colonial public health systems to its current status in human rights laws. The study demonstrates that health rights in the region developed over time through multiple factors which included colonial sanitary systems, postcolonial constitutional developments, judges' decisions, and international human rights standards. The research uses doctrinal and comparative methods to study constitutional laws and court decisions together with the different legal systems of South Asian countries while focusing on the particular judicial interpretations of Article 21 in India. The research connects its main topic to Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and to the WHO rights-based health definition which considers health as a complete and socially connected right. The research shows that South Asian nations have developed constitutional health rights through their constitutional duties and directive principles and judicial decisions yet their implementation process faces challenges. The primary finding shows that legal systems have granted rights to healthcare services at a faster pace than people can access these services because financial problems and weak administration and geographical imbalances and social discrimination still obstruct the achievement of health rights throughout the area.
Prajapati et al. (Wed,) studied this question.