After attending the 2013 Preston Health Mela, Special Guest of Honour Shami Chakrabarti, wrote to Professor Gupta with the following comments:
Human rights are all about dignity, equal treatment and fairness, not unlike the best traditions of the National Health Service. So it was a real honour and joy to attend the Preston Health Mela and have the opportunity to talk about the importance of respecting patients’ fundamental rights and freedoms in the context of looking after them.
Shami Chakrabarti CBE, Director of Liberty
As human rights protect us from abuses of power, these values become especially important in the clinical setting where people can be so vulnerable, disorientated and alone. Rights not to be subject to inhuman and degrading treatment, to respect for private and family life and non-discrimination are of obvious importance but throw up some very difficult issues in a world of austerity. Crucially, positive obligations under the Human Rights Act mean that healthcare providers and the authorities have a strong duty to treat patients with respect and robustly to investigate when things go wrong. The Mela itself is an extremely positive event in making the sometimes mystical world of medicine more accessible to the whole community and to demonstrate and celebrate humanity in healthcare.
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