Indore health dept reports death of COVID-19 man 16 days later

INDORE: Amid questions being raised about the delay in sharing of information about fatalities caused by COVID19 in Indore, the health officials here have now reported the death of a man, who succumbed to the infection over a fortnight back.

A health department official on Sunday said that three patients died in different hospitals here after testing coronavirus positive, which took the death toll in the district to 156.

These victims included a 61-year-old man, who died on May 21 following a 12-day-long treatment in a private hospital in Indore, which figures among the worst coronavirus-affected districts in the country.

However, the official information about the death of this patient was shared 16 days later in the latest bulletin issued by the health department on Saturday night.

The opposition Congress and the NGOS have been alleging that the health department was disclosing the COVID- 19 deaths in the district "as per its convenience". They said that it was creating doubt about the credibility of the data.

Talking to PTI, Indore's in-charge Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) MP Sharma said, "We are constantly seeking answers from the hospitals concerned for the delayed information being shared by them about the deaths of COVID-19 patients."

"We are also examining the records of deaths of patients from COVID-19 at our level. We hope that all the discrepancies in this regard will be sorted out soon," he said.

In a similar instance that happened recently, the department had reported the death of a COVID-19 patient in the district almost two months after that person had succumbed to the infection. The patient, a 42-year-old man, had died on April 6, but information about his death was shared on June 5.

Meanwhile, health officials said that 27 new cases of COVID-19 were found in Indore in the last 24 hours.

With this, the number of infected persons in the district has increased to 3,749 from 3,722.