Guj rejects report on Covid-19 deaths, calls it bid to create fear
AHMEDABAD: Twenty-four hours after a leading Gujarati daily reported that the government agencies gave away over 120,000 death certificates between March 1 and May 10, the state government issued a statement that the media was “creating wrong fears in the minds of people” and sensationalising the issue.
Minister of state for home Pradipsinh Jadeja said at a press conference on Saturday, a day after the report by Divya Bhaskar, that it was “mischievous” to connect the number of deaths on the basis of death certificates with the Covid-19 pandemic.
An official press statement by the minister in English stated: “When there is a death of a person in the family, death certificate is required for the bank insurance, LIC and other services. In such circumstances, we have developed an online process so that family members can obtain certificates at home easily. Death certificates are issued for various reasons, so we can not ignore the possibility of more than one registration for a person sometimes. Therefore, there can be a difference in the figure of death certificates issued and the number of deaths. As death is a serious matter and involves many rituals, it is possible that people might not register it at the same time...”
The minister, however, did not refute the report about the number of death certificates. Divya Bhaskar reported that from March 1 to May 10 the state issued 120,000 death certificates, while the number was 58,000 during the corresponding period in 2020. As against this, the officially admitted Covid-19 deaths (between March 1 and May 10 this year) were 4,218 in Gujarat.
In response, Divya Bhaskar’s Gujarat editor Devendra Bhatnagar tweeted: “We have given the source of our data. Tell us on what basis you are refuting us. Please add the bodies cremated, those reaching the cemeteries, the homage advertisements in the newspapers and bodies brought out in ambulances in hospitals, you will get the truth of death certificate numbers.”