Covid-19 death compensation, or ex-gratia compensation, of Rs 50,000 from the Maharashtra government will be given to the next of kin of coronavirus victims only if the RT-PCR report of the deceased was positive, even if the death certificate does not mention the cause of death as Covid.
“It is not necessary that the death certificate should mention Covid as the cause of the death. If the RT-PCR test had confirmed the patient to be Covid-positive and the patient died subsequently, his family is entitled to the compensation,” Principal Secretary (Relief and Rehabilitation), Aseem Gupta, Maharashtra, was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.
Gupta also stressed that the RT-PCR positive report was important for claiming compensation.
The Supreme Court, in September, had directed the Centre to pay Rs 50,000 ex-gratia compensation to the families of Covid victims and approved the Centre’s guidelines regarding the payment of compensation. According to the guidelines, payment of ex-gratia to the families of those who died at home or in hospital within 30 days of being tested positive for Covid. Families of patients who died by suicide will also be eligible.
While some families worry that the certificate does not mention if the patient died of Covid or not, and some patients died at home after being discharged from the hospital, the government assured that such families need not worry.
Meanwhile, Dr Rajendra Wable, dean of YCM Hospital run by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) told the Indian Express that doctors are looking for clarity in cases where if a patient dies at home due to heart attack or other cause after being discharged upon testing negative, then that particular reason was mentioned on the certificate and not Covid. This happened a lot especially in the beginning period of the pandemic, Wable said.
Principal secretary Gupta, however, said the Supreme Court has clearly laid down the guidelines regarding the time-limit for getting the compensation. “If the patient had died in a hospital more than 30 days after being tested positive, then time-limit will not matter. His family will still get the compensation.
Gupta clarified that if the patient had died 30 days after discharge within 14 days of being tested, then the time-limit norm applies. “Such patients who died at home after 30 days will not get the compensation,” he said.
Dr Wable said that they will reissue death certificates of those who were discharged after 14 days and died at home within 30 days.
“There should be comprehensive clarification from the government on all deaths after a person tests positive,” Spokesperson of Lokmanya Hospital in Pune, Dr Shrikrishna Joshi, was quoted by the Indian Express as saying. Joshi said that there are some people who died after they had Covid-like symptoms, and received with drugs used for Covid treatment, despite having a negative test report.
“What is the government’s stand in such cases? In several hospitals, patients died within hours of admission with Covid symptoms, but their tests were not conducted,” he said.
The state government is preparing for disbursing the compensation amount through software. “We are in the final stages of readying our system to disburse the amount. In the next few days, we will be rolling out the process… Death certificates will be mandatory for claiming compensation. In a few days, the GR will be issued as to what documents will be required to be submitted with the application. The entire process will be online. No family which has lost a member to Covid will be deprived of the compensation amount,” Gupta said.
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