Covid deaths of doctors: ‘Society will not forgive us if we don’t take care of our doctors,’ says SC

“Society will not forgive us if we don’t take care of our doctors and don’t stand for them,” the Supreme Court said on Tuesday as it reserved its verdict on a petition against non-inclusion of doctors and health workers who lost their lives battling Covid at private clinics, dispensaries and non-recognised hospitals in insurance policies.

A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice R Mahadevan disapproved of the assumption that private doctors were working for profit during Covid and stressed that the government must ensure that insurance companies settle the valid claims.

“You should compel the insurance company to pay if, according to you, the condition is met that they were on Covid response and they died because of Covid,” it said.

It asked the Centre to bring on record relevant data and information regarding other similar or parallel schemes available apart from the Pradhan Mantri insurance scheme.

“We will lay down the principle and, on that basis; claims can be made to the insurance company. It is for the insurance company to consider and pass orders on the basis of our judgment,” it said while hearing a petition filed by Pradeep Arora and others against the Bombay High Court’s March 9, 2021 order that held private hospital staffers were not entitled to receive benefits under the insurance scheme, unless their services were requisitioned by the state or the Centre.

The high court had come on a plea filed by Kiran Bhaskar Surgade, whose husband — who ran a private clinic in Thane, died due to Covid in 2020.  The insurance company rejected her claim under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) on the grounds that her husband’s clinic was not recognised as a Covid hospital.

Announced in March 2020, the PMGKP coverage has been extended since then. An insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh is provided to the health workers under the PMKGP scheme, which has become a safety net for the dependents of the Covid warriors who lost their lives to the infection.