E-Paper
Ghaziabad finally begins uploading Covid death details online
More than three months after the Uttar Pradesh government had announced it will conduct audits of patients who have succumbed to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19),
More than three months after the Uttar Pradesh government had announced it will conduct audits of patients who have succumbed to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the Ghaziabad health department has finally started uploading the case details of Covid-19 related deaths on the state Covid portal.
On April 15, the state government had announced that it will undertake death audits to ascertain the exact cause of deaths attributed to Covid-19.
“We have started uploading the case details of each death on the state portal. Once the complete case details are uploaded, a committee will screen the documents and ascertain the exact cause of death. As per our assessment, the majority of people who succumbed to the infection had co-morbid conditions,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate.
Chief medical officer, Dr NK Gupta, did not comment over the reason behind the delay in uploading the case details but said that the health department is now expediting the process. “There has been a delay in uploading the case details of the deaths, but now we are expediting the process,” he added.
In Ghaziabad, till July 31, 64 deaths have been reported out of 4,937 total cases in the district. The case-fatality ratio hence stands at 1.29% which is slightly lower than the state’s fatality ratio of 1.90% ( 1,630 deaths out of 85, 461 Covid-19 cases). The first Covid-related death in the district was reported on April 30 when a 62-year-old woman had died at a private hospital. Officials had attributed the death of the Covid-19 positive woman to a heart attack. While four Covid-19 related deaths were reported till May 31, as many as 51 deaths were recorded in June alone. Nine deaths have been reported in the month of July.
“Our prime focus is to reduce the number of fatalities and trace contacts of positive patients for early detection of infected persons that can be sent for treatment to appropriate Covid hospitals. We have already put in mechanisms for early detection of cases, early testing, and speedy referral. As a result, a lower number of deaths have been reported in July,” the DM said.
Officials of the district health department said after the audit is over, four or five deaths will be excluded from the district’s death toll.
“These are cases where the subsequent Covid-19 test reports of the patients declaring them negative for the virus were received after their deaths. Of the total 64 deaths, 16 deaths (six women and 10 men) were related to patients who suffered from influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and SARI symptoms. Overall, 24 women patients and 40 men have died so far. At 30 deaths, most fatalities were in the age group of 41-60 years,” said a senior official from the district health department who did not wish to be identified.
“At least 10 private hospitals are providing paid Covid treatment in the hospital. These hospitals have a total of 598 beds, and 120 of these beds have been reserved for patients, being treated in government-run hospitals, who might need to be looked after at an advanced facility. Of these 120 reserved beds, 20 are ICU beds, and in cases when a patient in government facility needs critical care, we can immediately refer them to these hospitals with reserved ICU beds, and the treatment will be free of cost,” the official quoted above said.
The officials said that apart from the reserved ICU beds in private hospitals, they also have 33 ICU beds in government’s L2 (for patients with mild symptoms) and L3 (critical patients) facilities.
“For early detection of cases, we have opened testing facilities in Indirapuram, Vaishali, MMG Hospital, and Women Hospital. Apart from these, we have also come up with static testing booths at four of our community health centers in Loni, Muradnagar, Modinagar, and Dasna besides one testing facility at our primary health center in Bhojpur. We have also roped in three mobile testing vans which will visit different localities. Apart from these, we have 10 private hospitals who have been supplied with rapid antigen kits for quick testing,” he added
According to the records of the health department, till July 31, about 101,262 samples have been tested in the district of which reports of 100,904 have been received so far. Around 58,552 tests were conducted with the rapid antigen kits which are being used in the district since June 26.
