The families of doctors who died while doing their duties during the Covid pandemic are entitled to the Central Government’s insurance coverage scheme “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package: Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19”, even if they were not formally requisitioned by the Government, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice R Mahadevan set aside an order of the Bombay High Court which held that private doctors were not entitled to the Government’s insurance scheme. The high court order had come on a plea filed by Kiran Bhaskar Surgade, whose husband — who ran a private clinic in Thane, died due to Covid in 2020. The insurance company rejected her claim under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) on the grounds that her

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