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Uttarakhand hospitals warned against masking Covid-19 deaths, data
Uttarakhand’s Baba Barfani Hospital was the first to be issued a notice for under reporting of Covid-19 deaths following which, other hospitals came forward with details of unreported deaths.
Uttarakhand hospitals’ failure to report at least 200 Covid-19 related deaths has led to a warning by health experts against the “masking” of data, saying, it’s continuation could adversely affect the fight against the pandemic in the hill state.
The warning comes after the state health department noticed that at least five hospitals and health facilities treating Covid-19 patients didn’t report at least 200 Covid-19 deaths to the state control room in violation of the protocol.
Baba Barfani Hospital in Haridwar didn’t report 65 Covid-19 deaths between April 25 and May 2; district hospital Rudrapur too hid as many deaths between April 28 and May 7; Military Hospital Roorkee didn’t report 28 deaths over the last one year; Covid care centre in Raipur near Dehradun didn’t report 27 deaths between April 26 and May 16 and BHEL Hospital Haridwar didn’t report 15 deaths between April 29 and May 12, according to the health department.
Baba Barfani Hospital was the first to be issued a notice for under reporting of deaths following which, other hospitals came forward with details of unreported Covid-19 deaths, said officials.
Health experts have termed the practice very dangerous. Secretary of Indian Medical Association’s Uttarakhand chapter, Dr Ajay Khanna, said, “Masking of Covid-19 data, especially of the deaths, should be shunned at any cost. The data from the hospital as well as the government should be transparent because it will enable the doctors and experts to fight the virus more efficiently.”
He pointed out that even the WHO has warned against it. “Reporting them transparently and factually will help in implementing the cardinal principle of test, track and treat, essential to contain the infection,” Dr Khanna added.
Another IMA functionary Dr DD Choudhury, who is the national vice president of the body, said, “The most essential thing in the fight against the virus is data. It should not be fudged or hidden at any end because science is based on data and facts.”
The Congress party claimed the state government was hiding Covid-19 data to cover-up its “failure.”
“It’s not just the hospitals but also the government, which has been hiding the data to cover up its gross mismanagement and failure. It is playing with the life of people to improve its public relation by portraying that everything is under control when it’s not.”
The state health department said that the hospitals claimed that “they had been reporting the deaths manually but not on the Covid portal.”
Uttarakhand Covid Control Room’s chief controlling officer Dr Abhishek said they have issued a notice to Baba Barfani hospital seeking to know why it didn’t report the deaths on a daily basis.
“All the hospitals in the state have been told to ensure they provide detailed figures of admissions and deaths on a daily basis to the control room. If anyone violates the protocol..., then action would be taken against them, including cancellation of the registration,” he said.
According to the state health department bulletin, Uttarakhand’s Covid-19 tally stood at 291,005 on Monday, when 3,719 fresh infections were reported along with136 deaths over the last 24 hours.
