Maha IMA seeks martyr status, life insurance for private doctors treating COVID patients

Thane - The Indian Medical Association's (IMA) Maharashtra Chapter on Thursday demanded life insurance cover for private doctors treating COVID-19 patients.

IMA state unit joint secretary Dr. Santosh Kadam said private practitioners treating coronavirus patients ran the same risk as government doctors.

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"Hence, private doctors should also get the same benefits and life cover as the government doctors. We are ready to pay the premium. Our demand is just extend the term insurance policy to private doctors also, just like the government doctors," he told reporters.

More than 44,000 private doctors across the state were treating COVID-19 patients and some of them also got infected and lost their lives, Kadam said.

On behalf of the IMA, he sought martyr's status for such doctors and extension of the Rs 50 lakh term policy to the private practitioners.

Kadam said during his recent meeting with state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, he raised the issue and explained the need to provide life insurance to private doctors.

He demanded that private doctors also be considered as ''COVID warriors'', on par with others.

He also informed that in Thane city, 17 private hospitals have provided 1,000 beds for COVID-19 patients.

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