Centre contradicting itself on death of doctors due to COVID-19

Clear details are unavailable on doctors who succumbed to COVID-19, and beneficiaries of insurance compensation

The Union government seems to be contradicting itself on the number of health workers, including doctors, who died while fighting COVID-19 in the past two-and-a-half years.

In the reply to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act filed with New India Assurance Company Limited, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on September 8 that ₹487 crore had been disbursed as insurance compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) scheme to 974 health workers who died in the line of duty fighting the pandemic as on September 1. Under the scheme, ₹50 lakh is given to each health worker. The query was filed by K.V. Babu, Kannur-based ophthalmologist and RTI activist.

While replying to a specific query on the break-up of the figures, the company said on September 9 that 206 of them were doctors and the compensation paid was ₹103 crore. The other 768 health workers, including nurses, community workers and other staff, were paid ₹384 crore.

In another reply to an RTI query on August 2, the Ministry, however, had told the company that 445 beneficiaries had been compensated, as on date, under the scheme “for the doctors who died due to COVID-19”. The amount disbursed was ₹222.5 crore.

These numbers are different from the answers given by Union Ministers in Parliament earlier. Asked about the State-wise figures of doctors and health workers who have died since March 2020, Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, had told the Rajya Sabha on July 26 that “disaggregated data on deaths due to COVID-19 by profession or otherwise is not maintained centrally”.

Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, had told the Rajya Sabha on February 8 that ₹808 crore had been disbursed to 1,616 beneficiaries, including doctors, under the PMGKP till January 31.

The data collected by the Indian Medical Association, however, say that around 1,800 doctors succumbed to the infection — 757 during the first wave, 839 during the second wave and the rest later. “It is clear that the authorities neither have clear details about the doctors who succumbed to COVID-19 nor the total number of beneficiaries. It is a total mess,” Dr. Babu said on Sunday.