Constitutional guarantees of the right to healthcare of Lithuanian citizens

The effectiveness of the implementation of the right to healthcare relates directly with legal clarity and certainty of its contents. This Paper focuses on the issue of obligations of the state with the view of the implementation of the constitutional right to healthcare of Lithuanian citizens. A very important source of analysis is the new official constitutional doctrine. The Paper reveals the contents of the principle “state takes care of people’s health” of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, which safeguards the right of the citizens to the best attainable health. Two other guarantees to healthcare have been analysed: the right of citizens to free-of-charge medical aid and their right to other healthcare services. The analysis reveals that the obligations of Lithuania towards its citizens are not related with the guarantees of physical, mental and social health (admittedly, the maximum implementation of them to every citizen would be a utopian promise). Rather, they are predominantly related with providing legal and organizational preconditions for functioning of such a health protection system, which ensures quality and accessible healthcare services for individuals and the public. The aid vitally important for life must be provided unconditionally and for free at the state medical establishments. The obligations of Lithuania with respect to its citizens’ right to healthcare are bound by such constitutional values as human life and dignity. The extent of obligations is legally limited by the state’s economic and social situation, the needs and capacities of the society and the state, and financial resources.