While ruling that the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package: Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19 applies even to doctors who were not formally requisitioned by the government, the Supreme Court revisited the magnitude of the pandemic and the extraordinary role of medical professionals.

A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice R Mahadevan observed that the realities of 2020 could not be overlooked while determining whether healthcare workers’ services were requisitioned under the applicable law.

Calling COVID-19 “unprecedented in scale and impact,” the Court noted that not since the 1918 influenza outbreak had a single disease caused such widespread devastation. It stressed that the crisis revealed deep structural weaknesses in global healthcare systems and intensified pressures on frontline medical staff.

Paying tribute to doctors, the Court remarked, “Even though the pandemic exposed profound systemic frailties, revealed gaps in preparedness, and pushed health professionals to their limits, our doctors and healthcare workers stood firm as unwavering heroes, transforming adversity into courage.”

Relying on data from the Indian Medical Association, the Court recorded that 748 doctors died during the first wave, followed by several hundred more in subsequent waves, including around 798 deaths estimated in the second wave alone. “The courage and sacrifice of our doctors remain etched permanently,” it stated.

The Court also recalled the spirit with which the public responded. “The nation remembers the early days of Covid-19 when every citizen contributed in some manner despite the pervasive fear of infection and death. It was a moment that reflected collective discipline, character and resilience,” the bench observed.

Four years later, the Court emphasised that the unprecedented emergency of 2020 must guide the interpretation of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. It noted that the circumstances demanded immediate response, making individual requisition letters impractical. Accordingly, the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and the Maharashtra COVID-19 Regulations, 2020 had to be understood within that urgent context.

The bench concluded that the statutes invoked in March 2020 clearly aimed to ensure that no possible measure to secure doctors’ services was left unexplored.

“We have no doubt that the invocation of laws and regulations was meant to exhaust every avenue to secure the services of doctors, and the insurance scheme was likewise intended to assure frontline medical personnel that the nation stood firmly behind them. In this light, we are unable to accept the argument that no requisitioning of doctors took place,” the Court held.

Case No. SLP(C) No. 16860/2021
Case Title: Pradeep Arora v. Director, Health Department