An affidavit was submitted by the Centre on Thursday in Supreme Court stating that if a person dies within 30 days of being diagnosed with coronavirus infection, then it will be considered a covid death. It includes suicide cases as well.
The family members of the people lost their lives due to covid or who died within 30 days from being diagnosed as Covid-19 patient will be given financial help from the central government as granted under State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) as per the health ministry guidelines.
“Any death certificate issued prior to new guidelines coming into force or rectified by the district level committee shall be treated as a valid document for considering any death as death due to Covid-19.”
Central Government
If the death certificate issued is not recognised as “death due to Covid-19” and mentions some other incidental cause in the death certificate then the family members of the deceased can raise their issues before the concerned authorities.
“The death certificates issued before the new order was put in place can be corrected by raising a plea before the district level committee which will be set up by the governments. The states have to set up the grievance redressal committees within 30 days.”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta
Earlier the Union Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research jointly issued fresh guidelines for the Covid-19 deaths on September 3. As per these guidelines, deaths that occur within 30 days of testing positive for Covid-19 are to be treated as ‘deaths due to Covid-19’ even if the patient dies outside a hospital or in-patient facility.
“Covid-19 cases which are not resolved and have died either in hospital settings or at home, and where a medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) in FOrm 4 & 4 A has been issued to the registering authority as required under section 10 of the Registration of Birth and Death (RBS) Act, 1969 will be treated as a Covid-19 death,” the guidelines say.
However, the Supreme Court said that all the deaths within 30 days of getting Covid-19 positive will be considered as deaths due to covid, including suicide, poisoning accident etc.
The Centre informed the Supreme Court that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recommended that ₹50,000 would be given to the family members of those who died of Covid-19.
“The authority recommends an amount of ₹50,000 per deceased person including those involved in relief operations or associated in preparedness activities, subject to cause of death being certified as Covid-19.”
NDMA guildelines