Supreme Court rules private practitioners who died treating Covid must get ₹50-lakh PMGKP compensation; bench to set binding principles for claims.
Supreme Court Extends ₹50 Lakh PMGKP Aid to Private Doctors
The Supreme Court on October 29, 2025, held that private practitioners who kept clinics open during the Covid pandemic and later died of the disease are entitled to the ₹50-lakh compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP). The bench led by Justice P.S. Narasimha rejected the Centre’s narrow view that only doctors “formally requisitioned” by state or central authorities qualify for the payout.
Hearing a petition filed by five widows from Maharashtra, the court emphasised the need to read the scheme’s intent alongside pandemic circumstances and said it would lay down binding legal principles for disbursing compensation. The bench observed that many private doctors offered frontline services during the crisis and that denying them the benefit would be unjust when they lost their lives in service.
The PMGKP insurance cover, introduced on March 28, 2020, under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), originally covered public healthcare workers and private staff formally drafted for Covid duties; funds were routed through New India Assurance. The Supreme Court signalled it will direct authorities to process claims where two conditions are met — the private practitioner kept their clinic or establishment open to offer medical services during the pandemic, and the death was due to Covid-19.
