- By Soumyaroop Mukherjee
- Tue, 28 Oct 2025 05:55 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Supreme Court has reserved its decision regarding the central government's insurance scheme for doctors who died from COVID-19 while on duty during the pandemic. A 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 correct.
In its judgement, the apex court said, "Society will not forgive us if we don't take care of our doctors and don't stand for them. You should compel the insurance company to pay if, according to you, the condition is met that they were on a COVID response and they died because of COVID. Merely because they were not on government duty, the assumption that they were making profits and then they were sitting is not correct.”
The Apex court has instructed the Central government to submit details on similar schemes in addition to the Pradhan Mantri Insurance Scheme.
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"Give 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 observed.
The directive came while the court was hearing a petition filed by Pradeep Arora and others challenging a Bombay High Court ruling dated March 9, 2021. The High Court had held that employees of private hospitals were not eligible for benefits under the insurance scheme unless their services had been formally requisitioned by either the state or the central government.
The plea was filed in the high court by Kiran Bhaskar Surgade, who lost her husband in Thande because of COVID-19 in 2020. According to Kiran, the insurance company rejected her claim under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) because her husband's clinic was not recognised as a Covid-19 hospital.
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) was introduced in March 2020 and has since been extended multiple times.
The scheme was designed to offer financial protection to healthcare workers, ensuring that their families receive support in the event of any mishap arising from Covid-19 duties.
Under the PMGKP, health workers are provided with an insurance cover of ₹50 lakh, serving as a crucial safety net for the families of Covid warriors who lost their lives while combating the pandemic.
(With inputs from PTI)