₹50k Covid ex gratia for suicides too: Govt to SC

₹50k Covid ex gratia for suicides too: Govt to SC

Cause Of Death Doesn’t Matter, Say Guidelines

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:24.09.2021

The Centre told the Supreme Court that all deaths, including suicides, within 30 days of persons testing Covid-positive, would be treated as ‘Covid death’ cases, entitling their families to Rs 50,000 ex gratia.

Appreciating the government’s decision to extend its helping hand to lakhs of families, the court said on Thursday that India overall has managed to do what no other country has done.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta told a bench of Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna that the government broadened the definition of ‘Covid death’ to bring within its ambit deaths by suicide and also those who died after prolonged treatment for other ailments triggered by coronavirus infection. He also informed that a decision has been taken to disburse the ex gratia from State Disaster Relief Funds (SDRFs).

“Family members of people committing suicide within 30 days from being diagnosed as Covid-19 positive as per ministry of health and family welfare and Indian Council of Medical Research guidelines will also be entitled to avail financial help as granted under SDRF in accordance with the September 3 guidelines issued by National Disaster Management Authority,” the government said.

Death certs given before rules formed can be rectified: Govt

On Wednesday, the Centre had told the SC that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has fixed Rs 50,000 as ex gratia for the kin of Covid victims, which is payable from the SDRF. On Thursday, it elaborated on the decision to broaden the categories of ‘Covid death’. Any person who dies within 30 days of testing positive, either at home or hospital, whatever be the cause of death, would be certified to have died of Covid, it said.

This would extend the ex gratia relief to kin of almost all of 4.5 lakh people who died of Covid even though many hospitals in the past year and a half attributed the deaths to various reasons other than Covid, ranging from heart to lung failure. It would mean the states cumulatively would have to pay Rs 2,250 crore from the SDRFs.

“To make the scope broader and more inclusive, deaths occurring within 30 days from the date of testing or from the date of being clinically determined as a Covid-19 case, will be treated as ‘deaths due to Covid-19’, even if the death takes place outside the hospital/in-patient facility,” the Centre said in its affidavit. “Also, a Covid-19 case, while admitted in the hospital/inpatient facility, and who continued to be admitted beyond 30 days, and died subsequently, shall be treated as a Covid-19 death.” The bench appreciated the Centre’s efforts to deal with the pandemic despite facing many constraints like huge population and financial limitations.

“Under the guidelines any certificate of death issued by hospitals/government authority prior to coming into force of the September 3 guidelines, can be reviewed and rectified and consequently freshly issued. Liberty would be granted to the next of kin of the deceased to raise a grievance before the concerned district level committee that the cause of death of his/her kin was Covid related as per the parameters prescribed in the September 3 guidelines, however, the death certificate issued do no recognises it as ‘death due to Covis-19’ and mentions some other incidental cause in the death certificate issued as the cause of death,” the government said.

It said on such an application, the district level committee would examine the contemporaneous medical records and if it came to a conclusion that the death could be termed as Covid death as per the guidelines, then a fresh Covid death certificate would be issued to entitle the kin to receive the ex gratia. The Centre said that states have been asked to set up district level committees within 30 days.

Reserving its order on the Centre’s proposal, Justice Shah at the end of the hearing said that he had read somewhere the AIIMS director’s statement that the third wave of pandemic is over now and asked the solicitor general whether it was true. As Mehta said that he was not aware about it, the bench said such statements should not be made particularly when many cases were still being detected on a daily basis. It said that people would think that the threat was over and they would not follow the protocol which could be problematic.

The SC bench appreciated the Centre’s efforts to deal with the pandemic despite facing many constraints