The Supreme Court has ruled that the families of both government and private doctors who died while discharging their duties during the Covid pandemic are entitled to an insurance payout of ₹50 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

The scheme, launched during the pandemic, provides every health worker combating Covid-19 with an insurance cover of ₹50 lakh.

“The country has not forgotten the situation that prevailed at the onset of Covid-19, when every citizen contributed in some measure, despite fear of infection or imminent death. That is also a moment of pride and recognition of the strength of character and discipline that our people demonstrated when circumstances demanded it,” the bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice R. Mahadevan said in a judgment.

“The courage of and sacrifice by our doctors remain indelible, as five years following the pandemic that spared us, we are now called upon to interpret the laws and regulations enacted for urgent requisition of doctors and health professionals to safeguard the public from the seemingly overwhelming onslaught of Covid 2019,” the court added.

The bench set aside a Bombay High Court judgment that had held that a deceased private doctor’s family was not entitled to the coverage under the government’s insurance scheme as he did not have a requisition letter from the Maharashtra government to join Covid-related duties.

The Thane doctor’s wife, Kiran Bhaskar Surgade, and several other doctors had challenged the high court verdict in the Supreme Court.

The apex court ruled that the Centre and all the state governments had invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and the regulation of 2020, laying down the immediate measures to be implemented, to requisition the services of all doctors and other health workers for Covid duty.

“A large number of doctors and healthcare professionals were requisitioned, and this compelling measure is not confined to government employees, but also extended to private doctors and hospitals. The insurance cover under the PMGKY-Package was extended to all those who were requisitioned by law and the executive actions under the compelling circumstances,” the Supreme Court said.

The court said the invocation of laws and regulations was intended to requisition doctors, and the insurance scheme was intended to assure doctors and other health professionals that the country was with them.

It said that individual claims for insurance made under the PMGKY would be considered and decided on the basis of evidence.

“The onus to prove that a deceased lost his life while performing a Covid-19-related duty is on the claimant and the same needs to be established on the basis of credible evidence,” it added.

“It is not difficult to conceive the situation in which an individual letter of appointment or requisitioning would not have been possible and that is exactly the reason for invoking the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and the Regulation 2020 for implementing immediate measures.”

Justice Narasimha noted that the Epidemic Act and other rules set in motion during the pandemic had empowered the government to even initiate criminal cases against doctors and others who failed to render their assistance.

“In this view of the matter, we have no hesitation in holding that there was a ‘requisition’ of doctors and other medical professionals. We are not inclined to accept therather simplistic submission that there was no specific requisition and therefore the claim for insurance must fail on this ground alone,” the court said.