'Society will not forgive': Supreme Court on denial of insurance coverage to health workers

The plea was against the non-inclusion of doctors and health workers who lost their lives battling Covid-19 at private clinics, dispensaries, and non-recognised hospitals in insurance policies.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that society will not forgive the judiciary if it doesn't take care of doctors and stand for them. The court also came down heavily upon those who felt that private doctors were working for profit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan reserved the verdict on a plea against the non-inclusion of doctors and health workers who lost their lives battling Covid-19 at private clinics, dispensaries, and non-recognised hospitals in insurance policies.

The bench said, "Society will not forgive us if we don't take care of our doctors and don't stand for them...".

The court emphasised that the government must ensure that insurance companies settle the valid claims.

The bench said the insurance company should pay if the condition is met that they were on COVID response and they died because of COVID.

The apex court said that the assumption that private doctors were working for profit-making was not correct. The bench added that the doctors were not on government duty, and assuming that they were making profits is not correct.

The bench 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," the bench said.

A plea was filed by Pradeep Arora and others against a March 9, 2021, order of the Bombay High Court. The high court had held that 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 passed the order on a plea filed by Kiran Bhaskar Surgade, who lost her husband, running a private clinic in Thane, to COVID-19 in 2020.

The insurance company rejected her claim under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) on the grounds that her husband's clinic was not recognised as a COVID-19 hospital.

The PMGKP was announced in March 2020, and its coverage has been extended since then. An insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh was 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.