New Delhi, Oct 28 (UNI) “Society will not forgive us if we don’t take care of our doctors,” the Supreme Court said today, and reserved its judgment on a plea concerning the Central Government’s insurance coverage scheme for doctors who lost their lives while serving during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Bench comprising Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice R. Mahadevan made strong observations on the State’s responsibility towards medical professionals who risked and, in many cases, sacrificed their lives in the nation’s battle against the pandemic.
During the hearing, Justice Narasimha underlined the moral and constitutional obligation of the State to support healthcare workers. “Society will not forgive us if we don’t take care of our doctors,” he remarked, expressing concern over reports of families of deceased doctors being denied insurance benefits.
The case pertains to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package Insurance Scheme, launched by the Central Government in 2020 to provide Rs 50 lakh insurance cover to healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, and frontline staff who died due to COVID-19.
The core issue before the Court is the eligibility of doctors who were not officially on government duty but continued to serve patients privately during the pandemic. Many such claims were reportedly rejected by insurance companies on technical grounds.
Appearing for the union Government, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati defended the scheme’s implementation. However, the Bench appeared unconvinced by the narrow interpretation of eligibility adopted by insurers and government authorities.
Justice Narasimha observed, “You should compel the insurance company to pay if the condition is met that they were on COVID response and died because of COVID. Merely because they were not on government duty, the assumption that they were making profits and sitting idle is not correct.”
The Court clarified that it would not deal with individual cases but would lay down broad principles to ensure uniform implementation of the insurance scheme across the country.
“We will not go into individual claims. We will just lay down the principles,” Justice Narasimha said, adding that the focus should remain on two key aspects: whether the deceased doctor was actively engaged in medical service during the pandemic, and whether the death occurred due to COVID-19.
“The said doctor’s voluntary offer of medical services, by keeping his clinic or hospital open for patients, must be proved by credible evidence,” the Bench noted, adding that once these two conditions of voluntary service and COVID-related death are satisfied, the purpose of the scheme should not be defeated on technicalities.
Emphasising the humanitarian aspect, the Court observed that the duty to protect those who protected others must go beyond bureaucratic definitions of service or employment.
“Once these two questions are satisfied, it is not for us to question whether the doctor opened his clinic or offered services for COVID alone,” Justice Narasimha said.
Before reserving its judgment, the Bench directed the Central Government to furnish detailed data on similar or parallel insurance schemes available for healthcare professionals, apart from the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package.
“Give us the data and details about other parallel schemes. We will lay down the principle, and based on that, claims can be made to the insurance company. It is for the insurer to consider and decide based on our judgment,” the Bench directed. The matter has now been reserved for judgment.
