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Doctors PM Garib Kalyan Yojana: The Supreme Court said that the families of private doctors who lost their lives on Covid-19 duty are also entitled to Rs 50 lakh insurance under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. The court said that individual claims for insurance made under the PMGKY-package will be considered and decided in accordance with law and on the basis of evidence.
New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the families of doctors who lost their lives in the line of duty during the Covid-19 pandemic are entitled to insurance coverage of Rs 50 lakh under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana’. A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan set aside the Bombay High Court’s decision that private doctors were not entitled to coverage under the government’s insurance scheme.
The bench said, “There is a need for the services of doctors and this is evident from a combined reading of the provisions of the Act, Maharashtra COVID-19 Prevention and Control Regulations 2020, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation order dated March 31, 2020, PMGKY Package Scheme, clarification of PMGKY policy and frequently asked questions (FAQs) issued.”
It said the laws and rules were invoked with the aim of leaving no stone unturned in the recruitment of doctors and the objective of the insurance scheme was to provide assurance to doctors and health professionals working on the front lines that the country is with them. The court said that individual claims for insurance made under the PMGKY-package will be considered and decided in accordance with law and on the basis of evidence. “The onus is on the claimant to prove that the deceased died while performing COVID-19 related duties and this must be established on the basis of credible evidence,” it said.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by Pradeep Arora and others against the Bombay High Court’s March 9, 2021 order, which had held that private hospital employees are not entitled to receive benefits under the insurance scheme unless their services are demanded by the state or central government. A petition has been filed in the High Court by Kiran Bhaskar Surgade, whose husband died due to Covid-19 in 2020. Her husband used to run a private clinic in Thane, Maharashtra.
The insurance company rejected her claim under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) on the grounds that her husband’s clinic was not recognized as a COVID-19 hospital. PMGKP was announced in March 2020 and its scope has been expanded since then. It was launched to provide a protective cover to healthcare workers to ensure that their families are taken care of in any adverse situation due to COVID-19.
