Drop in deaths before admission to hospital, reveals Mumbai civic body data

The number of people brought dead to hospitals in Mumbai has decreased by 28% in the sample week of April 14 to April 21, 2020, in comparison to the corresponding

The number of people brought dead to hospitals in Mumbai has decreased by 28% in the sample week of April 14 to April 21, 2020, in comparison to the corresponding period last year, and by 40% in the same period of 2018, data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revealed.

HT Image

Between April 14 and 21 this year, 73 patients were declared dead before admission, while in 2019, the number was 102 for the same week in 2019. In 2018, 123 patients had were brought dead to the hospital.

The number of people dying within 24 hours of admission to hospitals has also seen a decline. Between April 14 and 21 this year, 90 patients died within 24 hours of being admitted to the hospital. This is a marginal drop from the 92 patients and 99 patients who died between the same period in 2019 and 2018 respectively.

BMC said it has been tracing senior citizens with co-morbidities who do not show any symptoms of Covid-19 and admitted them to non-coronavirus hospitals for observation, care and treatment. It has attributed the decline in the number of deaths this year to this policy.

“For deaths that occur due to health complications and trauma deaths, patients are brought dead to hospitals or die in the hospital after one or two days. The number of brought dead cases have gone down because of a possible drop in trauma deaths and accidental deaths, as well as due to the timely medical care given to the elderly and to those with comorbidities due to BMC’s efforts. Also, there is an increase in awareness among people reporting illnesses and citizens are less stressed out as they are working from home. As there is no traffic due to the lockdown, the time taken to reach the hospital for a health emergency has come down, leading to the decline in the number of deaths,” a senior civic official said.

As of May 3, BMC has surveyed 42,752 senior citizens in its door-to-door drives. It has identified 691 senior citizens with low oxygen levels in their blood to start oxygen therapy in civic-run hospitals which are not treating Covid-19 patients.

Meanwhile, the city also witnessed a 36% decrease in the number of deaths in March and April owing to co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and pneumonia, as compared to the same period in the past three years. This year, 595 people died due to comorbidities in March and April, against 937 people who died in 2019, 883 in 2018 and 729 in 2017. This is despite the fact that 75% of the total 343 Covid-19 deaths in Mumbai until May 3 were of patients with comorbidities.

Around 50-60% Covid-19 deaths occur within three days from the date of admission to the hospital. These are mostly patients with severe comorbidities, breathing problems, heart-related ailments and age-related factors, the BMC’s Covid-19 war room data revealed.

As of May 3, the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in Mumbai are recorded in the age group of 61-70 years (27%), followed by 51-60 years (23%). Mortality among Covid-19 patients in the age group of 61 to 70 years is at 10%, and in the age group of 51 to 60 years is 5.2%, as compared to the city’s overall mortality rate of 3.7%.