8 months after her death, COVID warrior's kin to finally get Rs 50 lakh compensation

The next of kin of a medical student in Odisha will finally receive a compensation of Rs 50 lakh eight months after her death due to COVID-19. Twenty-nine-year-old Priyashri Mishra, a second-year surgery student at the Ispat General Hospital in Rourkela, succumbed to the infection in September last year while rendering her services during the first wave of the pandemic.

However, despite being a 'corona warrior', her family did not receive the benefits of health insurance for medical personnel under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package.

The Rourkela Steel Plant management and her colleagues pursued the matter and finally, a decision was taken to hand over a cheque of Rs 50 lakh to her family, an RSP PR Department official said.


"It would have been a complete dishonour to her had her family not received the compensation," RSP executive association president Bimal Bisi said.

Mishra, a resident of Bihar's Nalanda, had contracted the disease on September 22 last year and died five days later. The Sundergarh district administration had given her a guard of honour during her last rites.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package, health workers' families are covered under insurance of Rs 50 lakh in case of any adversity to them due to COVID-19.

The scheme is being implemented through an insurance policy of the New India Assurance company.