Report pending Covid deaths within 48 hours or face action: BMC to hospitals

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday issued a warning to all hospitals in its jurisdiction to report any pending Covid-19 deaths within the next

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday issued a warning to all hospitals in its jurisdiction to report any pending Covid-19 deaths within the next 48 hours or face action. The directive was issued two days after the Maharashtra government added 862 Covid-19 deaths, which were previously not counted, to Mumbai’s cumulative death toll.

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The official communication to hospitals issued on Friday, read, “… one last and final chance is given to all hospitals under the jurisdiction of MCGM to come out clean and report any Covid-positive deaths if still pending for reporting for more than 48 hours.” BMC also stated that these instructions apply to all cases henceforth. The warning was meant for all civic and state-run hospitals as well as private ones.

The document further said, “In case of failure to follow these instructions, a serious note will be taken by MCGM, and action under the Epidemic Act will be initiated.”

The warning comes a day after municipal commissioner IS Chahal told Hindustan Times that BMC would not take any action in the form of a show-cause notice or FIR against its staff, hospitals, or their deans for the late reportage of these 862 deaths.

“How can I blame my officers? They did not lie. Action will not be taken against hospitals and deans either, because the hospitals will collapse. Whatever said, I will not take action against BMC officials,” Chahal had said on Wednesday.

BMC also issued an official clarification on Thursday regarding the reconciliation of Covid death figures in Mumbai that added 862 deaths to its cumulative figure. It claimed the late reportage of deaths was due to a shortage of staff and limitations in means of communication.

The clarification further said that on June 6, the municipal commissioner carried out a thorough investigation after a private hospital reported 17 deaths to BMC in a single day. When it was observed that only one death had taken place that day and 16 deaths were from earlier, all private and public hospitals were instructed on June 8 to reconcile pending death figures and submit them within 48 hours.

Responding to the Opposition’s accusations of hiding these numbers, BMC’s clarification said, “Another important point to be stressed here is that even before some people started expressing doubts about the concealment of this information, the municipal corporation had already collected the information, verified it, corrected the errors, and submitted it to the government. There were great proactive efforts on the part of the municipal corporation to bring these facts before the people in a transparent and spontaneous manner.”