For Gujarat Covid victim family, hope for ex-gratia hinges on a prescription

In an order dated January 19, the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the relatively low disbursal numbers of ex-gratia claims in most states, and directed them not to reject any on “technical grounds”. The court order also recorded data submitted by the Gujarat government, wherein the state informed the apex court that against the 10,094 registered Covid deaths in the state, Gujarat government had received 91,810 applications for ex-gratia as of January 19, and payments were made in case of 59,895 while payments for 11,464 applications were pending.

As on January 29, data shared by the Gujarat government shows, out of 1,00,789 applications received by it for ex-gratia, 8,714 had been rejected. As of January 21, 613 re-applications are pending before the Grievance Redressal Committee. The death toll, as of January 30, stood at 10,438.

The Gujarat government had earlier attributed the wide disparity in its official death numbers and the claims submitted, to the Supreme Court’s wide definition of Covid death to include anyone who had died 30 days after getting the infection.

On November 28, the state passed a resolution taking this into account, with its guidelines stating: “deaths occurring within 30 days from the date of testing or from the date of being clinically determined as a Covid-19 case shall be treated as ‘deaths due to Covid-19’, even if the death takes place outside the hospital/in-patient facility”.

Chavada was a daily wager, employed at construction sites and earning around Rs 15,000 per month. Son Tanvir (26) says he suddenly took ill on April 25, 2021, developing high fever and cough and cold. “This was at the peak of the second wave, when beds or oxygen were not available.”

Tanvir admits Chavada refused to get tested. “There was a thinking that one would die immediately if one tests positive for Covid.”

The family did the rounds of “two to three government hospitals” in Banaskantha looking for a bed. But they couldn’t find one and could not afford a private hospital, says Tanvir.

The local physician, an Ayurvedic doctor, prescribed Chavada some paracetamol and medicines for symptomatic treatment, he adds.

After briefly improving, Chavada’s condition took a sudden dip on the night of April 30. Tanvir says they wanted to take him for a test, but Chavada was in no condition to be moved. “The local doctor told us that he will need oxygen. We started looking and, finally on May 2, we managed to get an oxygen tank, through the doctor’s reference,” says a family member who does not wish to be named.

Blood test reports with the family show that on May 2, Chavada’s indicators regarding liver function and C-reactive protein levels were well beyond the normal range.

“Within two hours of being put on oxygen on May 2, Chavada breathed his last,” says the family member.

A relative says they submitted the ex-gratia claim application online with documents such as Form 4 of the death certificate and his blood test reports, sometime in December. On January 17, they received the rejection from the office of the mamlatdar of the village jurisdiction of Palanpur, stating: “No evidence of death from Covid-19 presented.”

Mamlatdar Kamal Chaudhari said that if RT-PCR tests are not available for a patient, like in the case of Chavada, claims where the death certificate states “death due to COVID-19” by the treating physician are accepted.

However, in Chavada’s case, the death report says “suspected corona”.

Notably, the government resolution does not specify a Covid-positive report, and provides the option of providing documents that point to clinical determination of the disease, including chest scans and blood reports.

A local lawyer, Prakash Dharva, who has been assisting claimants like Chavada’s family, says many do not have certificates specifically mentioning Covid as cause of death, especially those who succumbed during the second wave. “We see death documents instead stating causes such as pneumonia… Even when they died in hospitals within days, we see such reasons ascribed.”

Swaroop P, Commissioner of Relief and ex-officio secretary in the Gujarat Revenue Department, said, “rejections are mainly because of non-production of documents in support of the application”, the most important being the death certificate. “If the death certificate does not mention the cause of death or if the family does not have one, a report or discharge summary from a hospital or an RT-PCR report saying the victim was Covid positive, is also accepted,” he said.

If an application is rejected, the decision is communicated to the applicant via SMS or an email, along with reasons. The communication also mentions the place where an appeal can be made, he said.

Swaroop said the other reasons for rejection include the lack of a valid Covid positive report, or of consent from legal heirs, or if the payment has already been made to a family on an offline application. Gujarat has not rejected even one application for “technical reasons” such as errors in names or applications, he said. “We are very liberal… The decision is taken by the mamlatdar after scrutiny by Heath Department officials. The maximum time taken to dispose of an application is about 7-10 days.”

Gujarat has so far released Rs 350 crore as grants for Covid victims, Swaroop added.

Meanwhile, Tanvir, who was in the second year of a long-distance graduation course in Gujarati, has had to quit to take up work as a daily wager. “My father was the only earning member and there are five of us, including my mother, wife and daughter. We make do with around Rs 9,000 that I earn per month,” he says.