LEGAL GUARANTEES OF ENERGY SUPPLY OF MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS AS A COMPONENT OF THE HUMAN RIGHT TO MEDICAL CARE

Abstract

The article examines the legal guarantees of ensuring the energy resilience of healthcare institutions as an integral component of the realization of the human right to medical care. The use of alternative sources of power supply (generators, autonomous systems) for medical institutions is an important element of meeting the requirements of the law. It analyzes the regulatory framework of Ukraine in the fields of healthcare, energy, civil protection, and critical infrastructure. The study also explores constitutional and legislative guarantees of energy supply for healthcare institutions. It is established that electricity is a fundamental prerequisite for the functioning of healthcare institutions and the provision of continuous and high-quality medical care. It is demonstrated that the current legislation of Ukraine forms a comprehensive yet fragmented system of legal regulation of energy supply for healthcare facilities, where the relevant guarantees are predominantly implicit and derived from norms of various branches of law. At the same time, the absence of clearly defined legislative provisions regarding the priority of electricity supply to healthcare institutions, mandatory backup energy sources, and unified energy resilience standards indicates significant gaps in legal regulation. It is further substantiated that energy supply should be considered an integral element of the human right to medical care. The improvement of legislation requires the integration of healthcare and energy law, as well as the introduction of explicit legal guarantees ensuring uninterrupted energy supply to healthcare institutions as objects of critical infrastructure, particularly in conditions of emergencies and martial law.


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