An RTPCR report showing a person as Covid-19 negative cannot be the sole basis to deny compensation when other medical records clearly establish coronavirus infection, the Bombay High Court has said.
The Aurangabad bench of the court directed the Ahilyanagar district collector to process the compensation claim of a man whose wife, a health worker, died during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The claim pertains to insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh under the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Yojna.
A bench of Justices Arun Pednekar and Vaishali Jadhav, in an order passed on January 9, held that the collector’s earlier decision to reject the claim only because an RTPCR report did not show the deceased as Covid-19 positive could not be sustained.
The court directed the Ahilyanagar collector to process the claim submitted by Machindra Gaikwad under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojna, a scheme announced for the families of Covid-19 warriors, doctors and health workers who died during the pandemic.
“The collector is directed to forward the claim of the man to the authority concerned by holding that his wife was Covid-19 positive at the time of death in view of the overwhelming medical evidence that indicates she succumbed to the coronavirus infection,” the HC said.
The bench noted that while the RTPCR report mentioned the deceased had tested Covid-19 negative, the medical records submitted by the petitioner pointed in another direction.
“The medical reports, including the CT scan and oxygen level and certificate of cause of death, clearly indicate Covid-19 infection and show that the cause of death was a consequence of the same,” the court said.
Rejecting the administration’s stand, the bench observed that a compensation claim cannot be turned down solely because a positive RTPCR report was not submitted.
“Merely because the petitioner could not submit a report certifying that the deceased tested positive for Covid-19, his compensation claim cannot be rejected,” it said.
Clarifying the evidentiary standard, the court added, “Therefore, the RTPCR report indicating that the deceased tested negative for Covid-19 is not the sole criteria to rely upon to decide whether the person was Covid-19 positive or that the death is caused due to Covid-19 infection.”
According to the plea, Gaikwad’s wife had been working as a nurse at the Ahilyanagar civil hospital since 1993 and died in May 2021 while performing her duties during the pandemic.
The petitioner told the court that his wife was posted at a quarantine centre and remained in direct contact with Covid-19 patients.
He relied on her medical records, which stated that she died due to cardio-respiratory failure resulting from pneumonitis and coronavirus infection.