Not all health worker fatalities figure in COVID solatium list: Doctors’ assns

Complicating the matters, the list that the Indian Medical Association (IMA) submitted to the Prime Minister has 43 doctors from Tamil Nadu dying due to COVID-19, while the association’s State wing has recorded only 22.

There are also complaints that other parameters including being a permanent staff and being on COVID-19 duty are also not clear.

In the letter to the Prime Minister, IMA secretary general Dr RV Asokan said 196 doctors have died due to COVID-19 in India, including 43 from the State. However, IMA’s Tamil Nadu branch has records of only about 22. IMA State president Dr CN Raja said death certificates and other supportive documents of 22 doctors have been submitted and added that the details of other doctors in the list were being verified.

Several doctors’ associations, including Government Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association and Doctor’s Association for Social Equality (DASE), charged the Health Department of lacking clarity on the criteria to allocate the solatium. They also demanded that it should be extended to all the healthcare staff on COVID-19 duty.

“All healthcare workers, including the ones working on contracts and outsources staff, should be eligible for solatium. A young 108 ambulance staff died while he was on duty,” said Dr G R Ravindranath, secretary, DASE.

An official said the Health department did not have a separate record of doctors who died due to the infection and depended on the State branch of IMA for the details. The order to grant Rs 25 lakh to few doctors have been issued and other names would be added after verification, said officials.

Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said the administrative procedures were in place for the grant of solatium, as the criteria for healthcare workers is very broad. The final list would be announced after all verifications, he added.