Amid numbers confusion, Delhi sets deadline to report fatalities
NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Sunday asked all designated Covid-19 treatment centres in the city to send details of all deaths caused by the deadly pathogen by 5pm everyday, in a bid to ensure they are reported on time.
“It has come to notice that both public and private hospitals are not reporting the deaths of positive cases of Covid-19 occurring in their hospitals in a timely and regular manner. It has further been observed that despite repeated reminders, the death summaries of the deceased patients are not being provided to death audit committee, resulting in incorrect or delayed reports being submitted,” the order from Delhi’s chief secretary Vijay Dev read.
The government had set up the death audit committee for Covid-19 last month.
The standard operating procedures (SOP) released by the government on Sunday come days after HT reported of confusion over Covid-19 death numbers in the Capital. Doctors from at least two centres had suggested that more people succumbed to the disease than was being reflected in the daily bulletins put out by the state government.
It was not immediately clear if such a discrepancy existed, and if it did, what was behind it. The Delhi government has denied any underreporting.
On Sunday, Delhi recorded five deaths, taking the city’s toll to 73, according to the government health bulletin. This continues to be much lower than data from several hospitals in the city. For instance, there have been a total of 146 deaths attributed to Covid-19, in four of the 10 designated hospitals — Lok Nayak hospital, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and Lady Hardinge Medical College.
The discrepancy has been attributed to delays in receiving records from the hospitals.
“The death audit committee goes through the patient case sheets, investigations, and death summary to include the death in the Covid-19 toll ” said a member of the death audit committee on condition of anonymity.