When the Union finance ministry announced a special insurance scheme for healthcare workers battling the novel coronavirus epidemic, it was...
When the Union finance ministry announced a special insurance scheme for healthcare workers battling the novel coronavirus epidemic, it was welcomed by public health experts. “Any health professional, who while treating Covid-19 patients, meets with some accident, then he/she would be compensated with an amount of Rs 50 lakh,” said the government press statement on March 26.
But four days later, it became clear that the scheme would only cover the death of healthcare workers, not their treatment.
On March 30, a policy document released by the New India Assurance, the company tasked with implementing the scheme, defined coverage as “death due to complications arising out of accidentally contracting Covid-19 pandemic disease” while treating and attending to patients.
This means the families of health workers would be compensated in the event of their death – but the workers themselves would not get any financial help in case they fell ill and needed to be hospitalised. With a large section of India’s health workforce, particularly those in the lower rungs, not covered by existing insurance schemes, public health activists say this could be a recipe for disaster.
Health workers have complained of crippling shortages of protective equipment across India. Till April 2, at least 52 health workers, including doctors, nurses and...
