Government ex-gratia were only given to 26 physicians who passed away from COVID-19

Up until January of this year, the municipal administration only provided `1 crore in ex-gratia compensation to 26 physicians who lost their lives while doing their duties during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Delhi government provided the details in response to an RTI request made by Dr. Vivek Pandey. In response to an RTI request, the city administration was requested to provide information about the total number of applications for compensation it had received from persons who had lost family members who had been assigned by the Delhi government to handle the epidemic, as well as the names of those who had received compensation up to January 2024.

Ninety-two government employees who had received the ex-gratia up to January were included in the answer. Remarkably, of them, just twenty-six were physicians.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) estimated that 128 physicians lost their lives while treating patients in the second wave alone, a statistic that shocked the medical community.

Merely 20% of the families have gotten compensation if we include the physicians who passed away during the second wave of the epidemic. The number of medical professionals that perished in the first and third waves of COVID-19 is unknown, according to Pandey.

The president of the Delhi Medical Association, Dr. Ashwini Dalmiya, questioned why the government was so indifferent to the “supreme sacrifice” made by a community that fought the epidemic at great personal risk. During the epidemic, physicians were granted divine status by almost all political parties and governments, and they were also promised financial recompense for their selfless work. Sadly, our lives were no longer prioritized once the epidemic ended, even though the AAP government was one of them. This demonstrates the current administration’s lack of concern for the ultimate sacrifice made by physicians.

We received recognition as the Covid heroes. However, the current administration did not show the proper respect for those who lost their lives while carrying out their duties. This has always been the case. The current estimate of physician mortality is wildly understated. In all three waves, there was a noticeable increase. Dr. Atul Mathur, President of FORDA, said that “the state is shying away from giving the compensation after earlier denying many deaths of doctors attributed to Covid-29.”