India is applauding its health workers for their frontline battle against Covid-19. However, 63 families out of the total 82 healthcare workers who lost their lives engaged in coronavirus efforts, are yet to have their insurance claims processed for want of necessary paperwork.
About 22.12 lakh healthcare workers were given a cover of Rs 50 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. But families continue their wait, prompting the Union Health Ministry to flag this as an issue during video conference with states, a report by the Indian Express states.
A source told IE that states have been asked to provide the paperwork for the 63 healthcare workers by July 14 for the timely processing of their insurance claims.
The Union Health and Family Welfare ministry has not yet received the paperwork for 63 health workers including nurses and doctors, sources said. Nineteen from the total have been processed and cleared.
State governments have not submitted the required documents, an official source told IE. According to the report, Maharashtra has the highest number of pending claims with 25 out of 63, followed by 11 pending claims of Delhi. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Telangana are also yet to submit the entire documents for their Covid-19 heathcare worker fatalities.
Families were under shock, which resulted in delay of completing their documentation, said state government representatives. However, the health ministry has told states that delays would set a wrong precedent for health staff engaged in efforts against the pandemic.
The source said states were advised to pay "special attention" to families on "compassionate grounds". However, police personnel are not covered by the insurance scheme under the PMGKY.
Right after the first lockdown which began on March 24, the insurance scheme for health workers was announced as part of the PMGKY. Initially started for three months until June, it has now been extended till September amid rising virus cases across the country.
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