Right to health in Malaysia. Do we have it?
List of Authors
  • Tan Choon Yong Alex

Keyword
  • Federal Constitution – Right to life – Right to health – Malaysia – Article 5(1)

Abstract
  • The Malaysian Constitution does not guarantee the right to health. The notion of thought that there is a default right to health lies in the expressive interpretation of right to life in the Federal Constitution. This article explores the right to health beyond its pedagogical principle by analyzing the Federal Constitution in-depth, and examine the applicability in modern clinical practice and how human rights are applied and read in law practice by reviewing previous case laws pertaining health related issues. In Malaysia, it is noted that the default formulation in the right to life is broad and ambiguous. It contains a voluminous number of rights in a single provision, and the paucity in the definition causes confusion in Court on which provision of law should be based on. Right to health remains poorly adopted in this country.

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