Consider giving ex-gratia to all doctors who died in line of duty: Delhi HC

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[google-translator]

The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked the Delhi government to consider compensating the kin of all doctors, including private ones, who lost their lives in the line of duty during the second wave of Covid-19, saying that any distinction is “not justified”.

Remarking that a “doctor is a doctor”, a bench comprising justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh, said the Delhi government needs to re-look its present policy where only the kin of those doctors who worked at government hospitals and government-requisitioned hospitals are given a compensation of 1 crore.

The government counsel assured the court that the authorities would look into the scheme and file an affidavit in this regard.

The court was hearing a plea by a doctor’s widow, whose house is about to be taken away by the bank because she is unable to repay the home loan. Her husband Harish Kumar died in June 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. He was working at the New Life Hospital in GTB Nagar and was on Covid duty, the plea filed by his widow said.

During the proceedings, when the court sought to know if the petitioner applied for and received the ex-gratia amount promised by the Delhi government to all frontline workers/doctors who died of Covid while in service, the woman said though she did apply, she did not receive the money.

The counsel for the government told the court that she was not given the money because the government’s policy only extended to the kin of those doctors who worked at government hospitals or hospitals requisitioned by the government.

“The late husband of the petitioner was running a nursing home with less than 50 beds and such nursing homes were not requisitioned by the GNCTD. Though the petitioner’s husband died in the line of duty while serving Covid patients during the first wave, this case is presently not covered by the Cabinet decision,” Gautam Narayan, the additional standing counsel of the Delhi government, told the court.

Taking note of this, the bench said that prima facie, the distinction of the Delhi government in awarding the ex-gratia is “not justified” because doctors and paramedic staff working in private hospitals requisitioned by the Delhi government are also covered by the Cabinet decision.

“It is not that the hospital of the petitioner’s husband was not rendering services to the patients. It was the smaller hospitals…the amount of load that they were taking would together far exceed the load that the government hospitals were handling…So, therefore, is it justified for you to draw this distinction?” the court questioned the government counsel, adding that the decision needs a “re-look”.

“A doctor is a doctor. There should be a rationale…Whether he is working in a private or government hospital…” the court added.

The court said that just because some nursing homes may not have been requisitioned on account of their capacity, does not take away from the fact that the doctors and paramedic staff working at such nursing homes were also exposing themselves to the risk of contracting Covid and suffering death on that account.

“It is a well-known fact that at the peak of pandemic during first and second waves, the small nursing homes were also providing treatment against Covid-19 to thousands of residents of Delhi; and if their numbers are put together, they may well exceed the number of beds available in government hospitals and hospitals which were requisitioned by the government for treatment of Covid-19,” the court noted in its order.

The Delhi government counsel said that the decision was taken in July 2021, considering the then financial position, and the authorities would surely revisit the scheme.

He also said that he will file an affidavit, not only placing on record the Cabinet decision, but also the reconsideration of the petitioner’s husband’s case for grant of ex-gratia.

The court said the affidavit should be filed within four weeks and listed the matter for hearing next on March 11.


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