An audit of Covid-19 deaths done by Madhya Pradesh’s health department has shown that four fatalities in the state were caused due to delayed referral or management in treatment.
Following the audit, state’s principal secretary, health, Faiz Ahmad Kidwai, in a letter dated June 18, asked all the district collectors and chief medical and health officers (CMHOs) to take effective measures to check such lapses.
The official gave details of all the four cases in his letter, the first of which was reported from Shajapur district.
“The patient from Shajapur was 40-year-old. He was having fever and respiratory problems for 2- 3 days. He consulted the auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) who gave him some medicines and asked him to go home whereas the patient should have been immediately sent to the district hospital Covid centre for a medical examination. In the district hospital later, the medical specialist didn’t follow the protocols in letter and spirit. Hence, when the patient was referred to Indore two days later , his condition had worsened. The patient died”, the letter stated.
The second death was of a 40-year-old from Bhopal who was examined in the outpatient department (OPD) of the district hospital and then sent back home with supportive and symptomatic treatment but without measuring his blood pressure and temperature. The patient returned to the same hospital five days later in a serious condition. He was referred to the medical college in Bhopal but declared brought dead. Later, the test of the sample suggested he was Covid-19 positive.
“Had the Covid test and medical examination been done in the district hospital on time, proper treatment could have perhaps been ensured in this case”, the principal secretary said.
{{/usCountry}}“Had the Covid test and medical examination been done in the district hospital on time, proper treatment could have perhaps been ensured in this case”, the principal secretary said.
{{/usCountry}}In the other two cases, while one patient died in Indore due to lack of adequate surveillance at community level, the other patient passed away for want of proper monitoring at a quarantine centre, said Kidwai’s letter.
Kidwai pointed out that the case studies suggest deaths due to Covid-19 can be minimised with proper testing and referrals.
“These case studies suggest that if medical examination, test and referrals of the patients are done on time, the number of deaths caused due to complications arising from Covid-19 can be minimised”, said the principal secretary.
A public health expert, too, reiterated the need for proper monitoring and referral.
“We have been repeatedly pointing out from the day one as to where the problem lay. The health department has ultimately realised it now. There is no denying the fact that if survey, screening, medical examination, testing and treatment are done in an effective and professional manner, many such deaths could have been avoided and Madhya Pradesh would not have registered such a high death rate,” said public health expert Amulya Nidhi.
However, Kidwai said that the situation in the state has vastly improved and the death rate has reduced.
“These case studies have been suggested to all the districts to avoid recurrence of such delay in management and referrals. However, the situation in Madhya Pradesh has vastly improved which is reflected in the tremendous recovery rate of over 71% and considerably reduced death rate,” he said.
As per the state health department’s bulletin released on Sunday night, Madhya Pradesh’s Covid-19 case count climbed to 11, 903 on Sunday , with 179 new infections reported in the last 24 hours. Of these, 9,015 have recovered from the disease and discharged from hospitals while 515 have died from the disease.