Society won't forgive us if we don't take care of our doctors: SC

The society will not forgive the judiciary if it doesnt take care of doctors and stand for them the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while reserving its judgement on a plea against noninclusion of doctors and health workers who lost their lives battling Covid19 at private clinics dispensaries and nonrecognised hospitals in insurance policiesA bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan said the government must ensure that insurance companies settle the valid claims and added that the assumption that private doctors were working for profit making was not correctSociety will not forgive us if we dont take care of our doctors and dont stand for them You should compel the insurance company to pay if according to you the condition is met that they were on COVID response and they died because of COVID Merely because they were not in government duty the assumption that they were making profits and then they were sitting is not correct the bench observed orallyThe top court directed the Centre to provide relevant data and information regarding other similar or parallel schemes available apart from the Pradhan Mantri Insurance SchemeGive the data to us and some information about other parallel schemes that are available apart from the Pradhan Mantri 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 observedThe top court was hearing a plea by Pradeep Arora and others against a March 9 2021 order of the Bombay High Court which 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 Central governmentA plea was filed in the high court by Kiran Bhaskar Surgade who lost her husband who ran a private clinic in Thane to Covid19 in 2020The insurance company rejected her claim under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package PMGKP on the ground that her husbands clinic was not recognised as a Covid19 hospitalThe PMGKP was announced in March 2020 and its coverage has been extended since thenIt was launched to provide a safety net to the health workers to ensure that in case of any adversity due to Covid19 their families are taken care ofAn insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh is 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 infectionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever