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More mismatches in Tamil Nadu’s Covid data: State logs 1 death, distt says 2 more
The bulletin released daily by the state’s health department showed only one death in Cuddalore as of June 17, but a senior health officer of Cuddalore confirmed to HT that there have been two more deaths in the district.
Even as a reconciliation committee is poring over documents to correct the Covid-19 death tally in Tamil Nadu, fresh reports of a mismatch in the tally reported from Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu and the state records have emerged.
The bulletin released daily by the state’s health department showed only one death in Cuddalore as of June 17, but a senior health officer of Cuddalore confirmed to HT that there have been two more deaths in the district.
“We have recorded three deaths in our district out of which only one is reflected in the health bulletin, the rest should be added soon. We don’t know why it wasn’t added but we have given all information in our daily press reports as well as recorded this in online government portals,” said the official seeking anonymity.
In the event of a Covid-19 death, officials of the Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), a district-level body, is required to compile and send the information to the Directorate of Public Health (DPH), a state-level body. The hospitals simultaneously inform local authorities such as the health inspector, sanitary inspector, among others. In Chennai, the counterpart of the DDHS is the city health officer of the Greater Chennai Corporation.
Last week, Chennai-based anti-corruption organisation Arappor Iyakkam had shared the details of a death in Cuddalore on June 4, as well as two in Chennai, and sent a complaint to the then health secretary, Dr Beela Rajesh. A few days later, they shared another case of a Covid-19 positive 57-year-old man who died in Rajah Muthiah Medical College in Cuddalore on June 8.
Arappor Iyakkam earlier this week, shared the details of another death which has not been reported in the state tally: a 38-year-old woman who died on June 6, and whose cause of death is registered as Covid pneumonia at Omandurar Medical College Hospital in Chennai. HT has verified that this case has not been reported in the state tally till date.
“None of these cases have been reflected in the health bulletin,” said Jayaram Venkatesan, convener of Arappor.
Rajesh was transferred from the post last week after it came to light that 236 deaths registered in the civic body registry were not reported in the state tally. A nine-member team was formed to reconcile the numbers after studying all deaths in Chennai since March.
Until June 12, Chennai had reported a total of 294 deaths out of 367 in Tamil Nadu. The following day’s bulletin introduced a special character in the Chennai column to denote reconciled figures which included a few deaths from May. As of June 17, Chennai has 461 deaths with reconciled figures out of the total 576 deaths in Tamil Nadu.
“We are scrutinising it case by case with the help of clinical experts,” said Dr P Vadivelan heading the committee formed by the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine. “We should be done in another two days.”
After Chennai, Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur account for the highest number of deaths in the state-- 33 and 31, respectively. District officials told HT that there was no mismatch in the death tally reported by them and subsequently by the state. Wednesday’s health bulletin also denoted that death figures in Chengalpattu were reconciled. Till Tuesday, the tally in the bulletin was 30, but was rectified to 33 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a senior private secretary in the office of the state’s chief minister succumbed to Covid-19 disease on Wednesday, at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.
