The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down strongly in support of doctors and healthcare workers who lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, observing that the judiciary “will not be forgiven by society” if it fails to protect those who risked their lives in service to the nation.
A bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan made the observation while hearing a plea challenging the exclusion of doctors and health workers at private clinics, dispensaries, and non-recognised hospitals from government-backed COVID insurance schemes.
“Society will not forgive us if we don’t take care of our doctors and don’t stand for them,” the bench remarked. “You should compel the insurance company to pay if the condition is met that they were on COVID response and they died because of COVID. Merely because they were not in government duty, the assumption that they were making profits and sitting idle is not correct.”
The top court directed the Centre to furnish data and details about any other similar or parallel schemes apart from the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) for health workers.
“Give the data to us and some information about other parallel schemes that are available apart from the Pradhan Mantri 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,” the bench said, while reserving its verdict.
The plea, filed by Pradeep Arora and others, challenges a March 9, 2021, judgment of the Bombay High Court which held that staff at private hospitals were not entitled to benefits under the PMGKP scheme unless their services were specifically requisitioned by the Centre or state governments.
The petition originated from the case of Kiran Bhaskar Surgade, who lost her husband, a doctor running a private clinic in Thane, to COVID-19 in 2020. Her insurance claim under the PMGKP was rejected on the ground that her husband’s clinic was not a “recognised COVID hospital.”
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package was launched in March 2020 to provide a safety net for healthcare workers engaged in COVID-19 duties. It offers an insurance cover of ₹50 lakh to the families of health workers who died due to the infection while serving during the pandemic. The scheme’s coverage has been extended several times since its inception.
In strong words, the Supreme Court underlined that private doctors who worked during the pandemic cannot be dismissed as profit-seekers. “The government must ensure that insurance companies settle valid claims,” Justice Narasimha observed, adding that compassion and fairness must guide the administration of such schemes.
The judgment in the case has been reserved.
