Two Years After Manipur Violence, Health Activists Across India Petition President: “Healthcare Crisis is a Human Rights Emergency”

On the solemn second anniversary of the Manipur ethnic violence, a coalition of over 100 leading public health experts, legal luminaries, and social justice activists from across India have issued a powerful appeal to the Hon’ble President of India, Droupadi Murmu, highlighting what they call a deepening public health emergency in the state.

Coordinated by national networks such as the National Health Rights Alliance, All India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA), and the National Alliance for Justice, Accountability and Rights (NAJAR), the petition underscores that basic healthcare in Manipur—especially in the hills, valley, and relief camps—has collapsed under the weight of two years of unrelenting violence and displacement.

“Even as the national conscience moves on, lakhs in Manipur remain without access to safe, dignified, and life-saving health services. This is a moral and constitutional failure,” states the letter submitted under the aegis of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM).

The signatories outline how repeated waves of conflict since 2023 have left hospitals damaged, health workers endangered, and essential services in ruins. Relief camps remain overcrowded, undersupplied, and dangerously exposed to disease outbreaks, while large parts of the hill districts still lack basic health infrastructure.

In the letter addressed directly to President Murmu—under whose constitutional authority Manipur remains during President’s Rule—the groups demand urgent corrective and preventive measures.

“The healthcare collapse is not collateral damage—it is a direct outcome of systemic neglect and political indifference. We must act now,” the appeal warns.

The petition outlines 10 concrete, time-bound demands, including:

1. Formation of a high-powered Special Task Force with Cabinet Secretary–level authority and a 2-month mandate to assess and respond to the health crisis.
2. Recruitment of doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff, especially in underserved districts and relief zones.
3. Deployment of an expert public health committee to ensure region-sensitive, equitable planning.
4. Enhanced central funding, recognizing Manipur’s vulnerability to conflict and crisis.
5. Cross-departmental coordination (health, disaster, food, social welfare, women and child development) to protect the most marginalized.
6. Monsoon-readiness and epidemic prevention in villages and camps.
7. Zero tolerance for discrimination in healthcare based on gender, ethnicity, or religion.
8. Creation of functional Community Health Centres in violence-hit zones such as Tuibuang and Sangaikot.
9. End to privatization of district hospitals, regulation of private healthcare, and provision of free medicines and mental health services.
10. A State Law for the Right to Health, establishing healthcare as a legal entitlement for all citizens.

Among the petitioners are some of India’s most respected health experts—Dr. Mira Shiva, Dr. Vandana Prasad, Dr. Veena Shatrugna, Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, Dr. Mohan Rao, Dr. Fuad Halim, and others—as well as prominent feminist voices, including Kalyani Menon Sen, Ammu Abraham, Nalini Nayak, Manshi Asher, and Dr. Bittu.

Renowned lawyers such as Adv. Shalu Nigam, Adv. Shakeel, Adv. Mini Mathew, Adv. Seilenmang Haokip, and Adv. Joicy Milun Zou also endorsed the petition, demanding legal accountability for structural neglect.

The signatories have also called on the President to personally visit Manipur, meet affected communities from both hills and valley, and ensure the constitutional rights to health, safety, and dignity are upheld—without bias, delay, or dilution.

“Healthcare is not a favour—it is a right. The people of Manipur cannot be left to suffer in silence any longer,” the letter concludes