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Research

Centre for Public Health Law

About the Centre

Centre for Public Health Law was established in January 2021 by the Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, National Law University Odisha, Cuttack to promote research in the field of public health laws under the stewardship of Prof. (Dr). Yogesh Pratap Singh and Ms. Nanditta Batra.

Apart from research, the Centre provides guidance and consultancy to government and non-government organizations on health policy. We critically scrutinize the compatibility of various public health policies and programs with the fundamental rights regime. The Centre is working collaboratively with two expert public health organizations i.e. International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease [‘The Union’] and the Public Health Foundation of India [‘PHFI’].

Contact Us at cphl@nluo.ac.in

Purpose of the Centre

The main purposes or objectives of the Centre are as follows:

  • Conduct research on relevant public health issues from a socio-legal perspective.
  • Critically scrutinize the compatibility of various public health policies and programs with the fundamental rights regime.
  • Organise debate around various problems of inequitable access to health in India and critically question the claims of health justice in India,
  • To assess the effectiveness of the global framework for protection of health
  • To assist the government and other stakeholders in implementation of Public Health Programs
  • Spread awareness and sensitise people on the importance of public health policy.

 

Know our Members

Faculty Members

Director of the Centre –
Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Pratap Singh (Registrar, NLUO)

 

Ms. Rishika Khare, Co-Director (Assistant Prof. of Law)

Student Researchers:

Team 2020- 2021

  • DhanyaVisweswaran
  • Khushi Bhardwaj
  • Sakshi Mittal
  • Sambram Mohapatra
  • Sayandeep Gupta
  • Sejal Jain
  • Shobhanjana
  • Swikruti Mohanty

Team 2021- 2022

  • Sambram Mohapatra
  • Ambuj Sachan
  • Dhanya Visweswaran
  • Sakshi Mittal
  • Samarth Kaur Kalsi
  • Anshuman Kar
  • Sejal Jain
  • Soumya Sinha
  • Vaibhav Kashyap
  • Yashonandini Bhargava

Our Partnerships & MOUs

Public Health Foundation of India

The journey of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) started in 2006 as a public private initiative to augment the limited institutional capacity in the area of Public Health in India. Their vision is to not only strengthen India’s public health system capabilities but also to provide knowledge that can achieve better health outcomes for all. They have been working towards this goal by setting up India’s first Indian Institute of Public Health and various other collaborations with multiple stakeholders. Click here to know more.

The Centre has signed MOU with the PHFI for collaboration on various projects.

International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union)

Founded in 1920, The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease or The Union, is a global scientific organization headquartered in Paris with the stated goals to “improve health for people in low- and middle-income Countries”. They do this by conducting scientific research, working with governments and other agencies to translate research into better health for people around the world, and delivering projects directly in the field, driving change to ensure the best quality care.  The Union focuses its work in three areas which are tuberculosis, tobacco control and lung and non-communicable diseases. To know more click here.

The Centre has signed MOU with The Union for collaboration on various projects.

Events

Previous Events

7th -10th July 2022 Centre for Public Health Law, National Law University Odisha in collaboration with the Public Health foundation of India organised its 2nd edition of NLUO PHFI Public Health Law National Moot Court Competition from 7th to 10th July 2022. The competition witnessed a participation of 30 teams from universities/colleges/law schools from across the nation. The moot proposition was on the subject of tobacco control and ban vis-à-vis the right to trade and commerce of the tobacco industry.

School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore was adjudged the winner of the competition and Tamil Nadu National Law University was the runners up. Award for best memorial was bagged by Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law and the Best Speaker award was given to Saurabh Bharadwaj of VES Law College, Mumbai. A total of Rs. 56,000/- cash prizes will be awarded to the winners. The inaugural, valedictory ceremony and the moot court rounds witness the dignitaries like Mr. Warren Bruke, Senior Attorney, United States House of Representatives, Office of Legislative Counsel, Senior Supreme Advocate Anand Grover, President of PHFI Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, Prof. Ved Kumari, Vice Chancellor and Prof. Yogesh Pratap Singh, Registrar, National Law University Odisha

As rising tobacco consumption in the country has been rising the competition aimed at touching the sensitive issues of health and economy. There is already a petition pending in Supreme Court in India to increase the age of tobacco consumption and banning the sale of tobacco near religious institutions, schools and hospitals. The aim of the competition was to sensitise the students on this newly emerging area of academia and practice, which the competition was successful at achieving.

26-27 August, 2021 Guest lecture by Shantanu Mukherjee on “Lessons from the pandemic: Is IP a barrier to public health?”

Vaccines promise a hope to end the pandemic. But the limitations on manufacturing capabilities amidst a web of intellectual property and reluctance of pharam companies to share the technology have raised concerns about negative impact of IP in access to medicines. To know the nitty-gritty’s of these issues, CPHL is hosted a two day lecture series by

Shantanu Mukherjee. He is the founder of Ronin Legal, a boutique legal practice that focuses on healthcare, technology, M&A and corporate advisory.

Shantanu is a New York and India qualified lawyer, with an LL.M from Columbia Law School, New York, and a B.A, LL.B (with a gold medal in Intellectual Property law) from National Law School of India University. He’s lived and worked around the world: with Linklaters in New York, White & Case in Singapore, Goodwin Procter in Hong Kong and as Global GC of a commodities/energy group in Dubai. In India, he’s been Global Legal Head for M&A at Cipla, and Regional GC for APAC and Japan at Lupin. He began his career in Luthra & Luthra’s M&A team in Delhi, in 2002. He has two decades of experience managing complex and high-value transactions, including cross-border M&A, joint ventures, insolvency restructuring, structured finance and intellectual property licensing.

He actively writes and teaches in his free time. He is offering a full credit course on Healthcare Law at NLU Delhi, has taught at Singapore Management University and Mallya Aditya School, and been published in, among others, India Business Law Journal, news18.com and The Quint. He also has a monthly column in the SCC Online Blog’s “Experts Corner” (https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/category/experts_corner/shantanu-mukherjee/).

 

6 August- 12 September, 2021 Double Credit Course on International Right to Health by Senior Advocate, Mr. Anand Grover from 6th August, 2021

Mr Grover was the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (Right to Health) by the UN Human Rights Council from August 2008 to July 2014.

The course is held in virtual mode with online classes being held on every Friday, Saturday and Sundays.Ms. Nanditta Batra, Faculty Co-Director, Centre for Public Health Law, NLUO is coordinating the course.

 

22 July 2021 Guest Lecture by Dr. Chandrakant Lahriya on “Health Policies and Systems”

 

The Centre for Public Health Law organised a virtual guest lecture on Health Policies and Systems. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Chandrakant Lahriya. Dr Lahriya is a physician-epidemiologist and a public policy and health systems expert and co-author of “Till We Win: India’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic”. Dr Lahriya talked about the conceptual understanding of policy, law and regulations particualry in the context of health. He weaved a seamless fabric of history of health policies in India and discussed in detail the key features of National Health Policy, 2017. He also explained the need for having a ‘Universal Health Coverage’ and lamented that in India 60% of medical expenditure of out of the pocket whereas in the recommended level is around 20%. The financial burden is significant in accessing healthcare facilities. The lecture was followed by an interactive question answer session which was moderated by Ms. Nanditta Batra, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Director, Centre for Public Health Law, NLUO. The lecture can be accessed here.

 

24 27 June, 2021 1ST NLUO PHFI Public Health Law National Moot Court Competition

 

The Centre successfully conducted India’s first public health moot. The four day long 1st NLUO PHFI Public Health Law National Moot Court Competition was he moot was focused on the issue of compulsory vaccination and immunity to vaccine developers and manufacturers along with ancillary issues of federalism in the context of Public Health. 62 teams from National Law Universities, Central and State Government Law Department’s, Private Law Universities and law colleges from the length and breadth of the country participated in the moot.  The final round was judged by eminent legal luminaries and public health experts including Mr. Anand Grover, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Dr. Gagandeep Kang, India’s leading virologist and Professor, CMC Vellore,  Mr. Murali Neelkanthan, Partner, Amicus, Mr. Sameer Sah, Partner, Khaitan & CO and Mr. Warren Bruke, Senior Attorney, United States House of Representatives, Office of Legislative Counsel.

The final rounds were followed by a grand valedictory ceremony which was graced by Hon’ble Justice Mr Sanjeeb Panigrahi, Judge, Orissa High Court as the Chief Guest and Dr. K Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India as Guest of Honor, Prof Ved Kumari, Vice -Chancellor, NLUO, Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Pratap Singh, Registrar, NLUO, Prof. Shifalika Goenka, Professor PHFI  and the finalist judges.

Government Law College, Mumbai won the competition. They also won the citation for ‘Best Memorial’. NALSAR Hyderabad was declared as Runner up and Anshika Paul of Government Law College, Trivandrum was adjudicated the ‘Best Speaker’. Finals and valedictory can be watched here.

12 May, 2021 Webinar onThe Role of Public Health Law in Cancer Prevention

A webinar on The Role of Public Health Law in Cancer Prevention was organised by the centre on 12th May, 2021 in association with PHFI. The webinar was organized to critically analyse the role of law in cancer prevention and to foster discussion amongst different stakeholders on the same.

 

Speakers at the event included:

·         Dr. Sharmila Pimple, Professor & Physician ‘G’ Dept. of Preventive Oncology Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai.

·         Dr. Majid Ahmad Talikoti, Sr. Consultant & Head, Surgical Oncology, Batra Hospital, New Delhi

·         Mr. David Patterson, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen

·         ShifalikaGoenka, Professor, Head Bioethics and Social and Behavioral Sciences, Public Health Foundation of India

·         Dr. Amit Yadav, Senior technical adviser, International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union)

·         Dr Shipra Gahlot, MBBS. DNB (Internal Medicine), Consultant Physician, Health Care Clinic, Ex S.R Nephrology, Vivekananda polyclinic & Institute of medical sciences, Lucknow

·         Dr Nandini Vallath, MBBS, MD, Clinical Consultant: Palliative Care, BARC Hospital. Honorary Consultant: Palliative Care and Div. Of Med. Humanities, KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai. Consultant: Palliative Care Division, National Cancer Grid

Webinar can be watched here.

27th January, 2021 Expert Discussion on Draft COTPA Amendment Bill, 2020

 

A national expert consultation was organised on the draft Cigarette and the other Tobacco Products Act Amendment Bill 2020 on 27th January, 2021 in collaboration with The Union. The Centre submitted comments on the same to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

 

Experts at the event included:

·         The Chief Guest, Hon’ble Mr. Justice SanjeebKuamrPanigrahi, Judge High Court of Orissa

·         Dr. Rana J Singh, Executive Director, The Union, South East Asia Office New Delhi

·         Dr. Monika Arora, Director, Health Protection Division, Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi

·         Dr. Amit Yadav, Sr. Technical Advisor Tobacco Control, The Union, South East Asia Office New Delhi

·         Dr. Meenakshi Sachidhanandam, Expert Public Health Law

Consultation can be watched here.

 

 

Research Activities

The Centre is currently engaged in various research activities some of areas and topics on which we are working on include:

  • Creating a database of public health laws currently in force in the various states of India as well as at the Central level.
  • Expanding urbanization vis-à-vis reducing community spaces – A constitutional, legal, customary, indigenous rights to access and use of public space.
  • Urban planning and threat to infectious and non-communicable diseases – A review of the national and international legal frameworks.
  • Biggest challenge of the 21stcentury access to drinking water for all – Socio-politico and legal issues and solutions.
  • Food laws and their impact on NCDs – Challenges and opportunities.