R I G H T TO H E A LT H Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka, were co-opted as Members of the Group. B] Public Health and Human Rights Implementation of the recommendations of the Regional Consultation on Public Health and Human Rights 6.4 On 4 July 2002, the Commission convened a meeting to review the progress of implementation of the recommendations of the "Regional Consultation on Public Health and Human Rights" which it had organized on 10-11 April 2001 in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the WHO. It was attended, among others, by Dr. R.V.V. Ayyar, Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, Shri S.K. Naik, Secretary, Department of Health, and Dr. S.P. Agarwal, Director General of Health Services. 6.5 In the course of that meeting, the view was expressed that the empowerment of people was essential to ensuring accountability in the health sector and that, as far as the Commission was concerned, its primary focus should be on efforts to improve the design and delivery of primary health care in the country. It was, accordingly, decided that the Commission and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare would jointly convene a National Consultation to review strategies for strengthening primary health care. The Consultation would involve all stakeholders from the central and state levels. It was also decided that the Commission would subsequently monitor the adoption of those strategies and the progress of their implementation, so as to ensure that the citizen's right to essential primary health care is appropriately protected. The suggestion was made that the base provided by the National Law Schools may be strengthened and expanded to provide platforms for partnerships to promote Public Health laws in their development and application. For its part, WHO would take follow-up action at the national and regional levels to strengthen and expand networks for promoting capacity building in the domain of Public Health Law. 6.6 The meeting reviewed in detail the recommendations relating to 'Access to Health Care' and 'Emergency Medical Care'. The Commission requested the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Women and Child Development to provide their written comments and status reports on ANNUAL REPORT 2002-2003 ... ... 83 ... ... ..