The Supreme Court today held that families of doctors who died while performing COVID-19 duties are entitled to 50 lakh rupees insurance under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, setting aside a Bombay High Court ruling that had excluded private practitioners. A bench of Justices P. S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan said the pandemic regulations and official orders clearly showed that doctors’ services were requisitioned, and the insurance scheme was meant to assure frontline workers that the country stood with them.
The court said claims must be assessed on evidence, with the onus on the claimant to prove the doctor died while on COVID-19 duty. The order came on a plea filed after a private doctor in Thane died in 2020, and his family’s claim was rejected because his clinic was not a recognised COVID-19 hospital.
