Can't pay Rs 4 lakh to victims,All Covid deaths to be certified-Centre

The Centre has said that all coronavirus deaths regardless of where they take place, should be certified as Covid deaths. In a 183-page affidavit filed on Saturday late night, the Centre also promised action against doctors who fail to comply with this rule. So far, only deaths of coronavirus patients that took place in hospitals were certified as Covid, not the ones that happened at home or even at hospital parking lots, leading to a discrepancy in fatality figures that ran into lakhs.

The Centre announced the new rule in an affidavit that also contended that  Rs 4 lakh compensation cannot be paid to all those who died due to Covid-19 as it would exhaust the disaster relief funds. The Centre’s affidavit came in response to a PIL seeking "minimum standards of relief" and ex-gratia payment to Covid-19 deceased. "If ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh is given for every person who loses life due to Covid-19, the entire amount of SDRF may possibly be spent on this item alone, and indeed the total expenditure may go up further," said the Centre.

The government's decision came after a plea that said families who lost their loved ones to Covid were missing out on compensation already paid by some states as death certificates of victims do not mention Covid as the cause of death. Death certificates say death due to lung problem and heart issues. Families of victims have to rush from pillar to post. Is there any uniform policy on issuing death certificates to Corona victims?, the Court had asked. India has reported over 3.85 lakh Covid deaths so far. The government has further said that Covid is an ongoing scenario and minimum standards of relief and compensation differ in this case from other types of disasters. It added that Rs 442.4 crore has been released to the insurance companies.

The government further informed the Supreme Court that in 2019-20, additional funds Rs 1,113.21 crore were released to the States/UTs towards management and containment of Covid-19 over under the National Health Mission. “Rs 8,257.89 crore have been released to the States/UTs under the India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package through NHM,” said the government.