Despite surge in UP cases, mortality rate stands at 1.6%

LUCKNOW : While the graph of Sars-CoV-2 infection cases in UP continues to maintain an upward trend, there is a silver lining -- the Covid mortality rate at 1.6% in the state.

Now, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed the state health and medical education departments to bring down the mortality rate further to 1% by improving health facilities.

Alok Kumar, secretary to the chief minister, said the state government was working to bring down the death rate and death of each Covid patient was being analysed and audited. Medical experts were reviewing all the aspects associated with the death of patients, including their transportation and admission to hospital, treatment provided and reasons for the death, he said.

On the recommendation of the doctors and medical experts, improvement in the health services was being made accordingly to save the patients.

Not only the services and treatment provided to the patient in hospitals were studied but the analysis went to minuscule level like when was the

patient referred to a Covid hospital from the referral hospital, when was the ambulance service provided, what was the oxygen level of the patient while boarding the ambulance and the oxygen level while the ambulance was moving to the hospital and if the ambulance equipped with an oxygen cylinder and a ventilator, he said.

“To analyse the fatality, we also focus on the admission in hospital and if the patient was kept in the holding area of the hospital for long and was the admission delayed leading to the death of the patient. Information is also collected from the family members as well as attendants of the patients,” he added.

The detail report regarding the death of a patient was studied by medical experts and on their recommendations improvement was made accordingly to save the life of the Covid patients, Kumar said.

In April, the Covid fatality rate in Uttar Pradesh was 1.2%. It increased to 4.1% in May and then came down to 3.0% in June and to 1.0% in July.

In a study conducted by the state health department, it was found that comorbidity (other diseases) was one of the main reasons for the death of the infected patients. Delay in test

ing and admission to hospital by patients was also found to be a major reason for the fatality.

A health department officer said to protect the patients with comorbidity, the state government had directed the hospitals and medical colleges to take advice of experts or senior doctors, including those of cardiology, nephrology, immunology, oncology, urology or the other disease which had infected the Covid patients.

The state government has also urged the people to get their samples tested immediately when Covid symptoms appear and admission in hospital if the report is positive, he added.

The effort of the state government to increase sample testing has led to the increase in the novel coronavirus cases in the state.

The laboratories in the state are testing 35,000 to 40,000 samples daily whereas in March merely 60 samples were tested daily. The state government is also increasing the laboratories.

In March, the samples were tested in KGMU whereas at present the samples are being tested in 32 laboratories across the state, Kumar added.