Overview

• Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha formally demanded in the Rajya Sabha on July 21 that annual health checkups be enshrined as a statutory right for every Indian citizen.
• He warned that annual health screenings have become a luxury that only the affluent can afford in India’s current healthcare system.
• Chadha highlighted National Family Health Survey-5 data showing only 2 percent of women receive cancer screenings and Lancet research linking 55 percent of heart attack deaths to delayed diagnoses.
• He pointed to government-funded annual checkup programs in Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia as models for reducing chronic disease burdens.
• The proposal now awaits a formal government response and has prompted extensive media coverage of preventive healthcare.