The Supreme Court has urged the Union government to issue directions to States for payment of salaries and providing necessary quarantine facilities to doctors and healthcare workers engaged in treating Covid-19 patients.
The top court’s bench of justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah directed the Centre to file a compliance report within four weeks on payment of salaries and quarantine facilities to doctors and healthcare workers and warned that non-compliance would be viewed seriously.
The court said that doctors and healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients should not be denied quarantine facilities. The government told the court it would issue the necessary directions.
The above directions were issued while hearing a plea by a private doctor raising questions on the Centre’s 15 May decision that 14-day quarantine was not mandatory for doctors.
Doctor Arushi Jain, in her petition filed through advocates Mithu Jain and Arjun Syal, had alleged that front line healthcare workers engaged in the fight against Covid-19 are not being paid salaries or their wages are being cut or delayed.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre said that government would issue the directions to states and union territories within 24 hours to ensure timely payment of salaries to doctors and health care workers.
The Solicitor General said that the 15 May circular on Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will also be modified and do away the clause for non-mandatory quarantine for healthcare workers engaged in Covid duty.
Mehta also gave the assurance that a new order would be issued for providing suitable alternate accommodation for doctors and healthcare workers engaged in Covid duty to avoid risk to their family members.
He said that Centre is also thinking to make non-payment of salaries by hospitals to health care workers a criminal offence under the National Disaster Management Act. Doctors and other healthcare workers, who are engaged in Covid duty, run a great risk of exposure of infection without proper PPE kits and without proper accommodation, their family members are also at higher risk of infection. Their safety should be the top priority.