WB AUDIT PANEL TO NOT CERTIFY COVID DEATHS ANYMORE

Kolkata, May 3: Amid the raging controversy over the actual number of Covid-19 fatalities in Bengal and the need for a committee to audit them, the state government has altered the panel’s mandate and it will now not certify whether a patient died due to Coronavirus or a pre-existing ailment, a senior member of the team said on Sunday.

He said now the doctors treating Covid-19 patients will certify whether they have died of the viral disease or any other concurrent illness.

The panel formed by the state government on April 3 was in the eye of a political storm, with opposition parties calling it a government’s tool to “fudge” the

Covid-19 data related to the number of deaths and afflictions.

The WB government had acknowledged on Thursday that 105 Covid19 positive patients had died in the state till then but insisted the actual death toll from the disease was only 33.

Citing the audit committee findings, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha had said 72 of the 105 deaths occurred due to severe comorbidities (pre-existing diseases) and that Covid-19 was only incidental in those cases.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the panel member said the committee will now collect random samples from hospitals treating infected patients and study them to find out more about the disease.

“Doctors will follow the recommendations of the audit panel and certify whether a death was because of the coronavirus infection or comorbidities,” he said. —