Centre to pass directions on quarantine, salaries of healthcare workers by tomorrow; non-adherence to be an offence under DMA: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today directed the Central government to pass directions regarding quarantine of doctors who come in contact with COVID-19 patients and salaries of healthcare workers by tomorrow (Dr Aarushi Jain vs Union of India)..A three judge bench of Justices Ashok Bushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah passed the order while hearing a plea demanding separate residential facilities for frontline health care workers in the fight against COVID-19..The Bench today made it clear that non-adherence to these directions by Chief Secretaries of states will be deemed as an offence under the Disaster Management Act, 2005..Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate KV Viswanathan urged the Court to direct states to file affidavits regarding provision of accommodation and salary payment to healthcare professionals..At this point, Solicitor General for India Tushar Mehta suggested that as far as salary was concerned, the Centre can issue a direction saying payment of salary has to be made, failing which it will be a criminal offence. He added,"Regarding accommodation, even 5-star accommodation has been provided to the doctors. Some lapse might have been there. We will address it.".The Court pointed out that quarantine for doctors, unless they are in the high risk exposure category, has been done away with.Justice Bhushan observed,"Suppose a doctor with a PPE comes in contact with COVID patient, then can't he be say to be high risk case?".Mehta then assured the Court that doctors and medical professionals coming in contact with COVID-19 patients will be put under quarantine for a period of one week. After one week, the healthcare worker would be checked to determine whether or not further quarantine is required, the SG submitted..The Court refused to direct states to file affidavits on places of quarantine, and directed the Centre to issue directions on the issues of quarantine of and salary of healthcare workers..The matter will be listed for hearing after four weeks..While hearing the plea on June 12, the three-judge Bench had observed that welfare of doctors and frontline healthcare workers was a matter of concern and that the government needs to do more on the issue and cannot "work half-heartedly".The petitioner was given time to submit suggestions to the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.."We cannot have dissatisfied soldiers (doctors) against COVID-19 war", SC says government needs to do more for healthcare workers, doctors.SG Mehta had earlier pointed out that this was not an adversarial litigation. and said that guidelines have been formulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), along with other experts. He said that in case more suggestions on the aspect of separate accommodation for healthcare workers are to be made, the same may be placed before the expert body..The Bench had observed that on the question of accommodation for frontline workers and doctors, the Solicitor General needs to check what more can be done.."We cannot have dissatisfied soldiers (doctors) in the COVID-19 war. You need to travel the extra mile to see what else can be done for them."Justice Bhushan.In its reply filed earlier, the Centre had said that it is ultimately a doctor's own responsibility to protect himself from COVID-19..Health Ministry tells the Supreme Court that final responsibility is on Healthcare Workers to train themselves and be safe from COVID-19.The petition filed by Udaipur-based doctor Aarushi Jain was filed by Advocates Mithu Jain and Arjun Syal..[READ ORDER]