face3 hours agoWriter: Suryakant Tiwari
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Even though the Supreme Court has ordered to mention death from corona in the death certificate, there is little chance that the affected will get compensation. In the last one and a half years, thousands of people died of corona in Surat, but these deaths were not recorded in the government figures. To show the low death rate of corona, only 1628 deaths were recorded in the government register, while 11 thousand people have died due to corona so far.
In such a situation, how will Corona be able to register the cause of death in the certificate of 9372 people whose death was declared normal and death certificates were also issued. Because after the death of most of the corona patients in government and private hospitals, the family members were not even given the hospital case paper.
The state government has constituted a three-member Death Audit Committee to analyze the deaths in private hospitals apart from civil and smear hospitals in the first and second wave of corona. Which patient died of corona and which did not? This decision is made by the committee. The committee has its own rules to decide the death due to corona.
In order to find out the exact figure of deaths from Kovid, it was found in Bhaskar’s investigation that in the last one and a half year, case papers of 11 thousand deaths from private and government Kovid hospitals were sent to this committee. The committee considered corona the cause of only 1628 deaths out of 11 thousand deaths. The cause of death of the remaining 9372 people was not considered to be corona. While all these were cremated under the Kovid protocol.
The patient died of corona on June 25, the Municipality did not count
On June 25, a 56-year-old resident of Varachha, who was admitted to the Civil Hospital, died. The treating doctors mentioned corona along with other causes of death on the case paper. But the audit committee did not consider it a death from Corona. In the Kovid bulletin issued by the Municipal Corporation on June 25, no death was reported in Surat.
The audit committee did not accept that the death was due to Kovid.
On June 29, a 66-year-old resident of Katargam died. The Municipal Corporation did not report any death from Corona on that day as well. While the treating doctor had written the cause of his death as Multiple Organ Failure with Kovid 19. After this, all the details of the patient went to the Death Audit Committee, but the committee also considered it a normal death.
No death in Corona’s account on April 13, while one died
A 50-year-old resident of Sarthana was admitted to the Civil Hospital on April 12 in a critical condition. Died on 13 April. Doctors wrote the cause of death as Acute Respiratory Disease in Kovid 19 Positive Pneumonia. This death was also not recorded in the account of Kovid.
Form of cause of death was given, did not file and bill
A man from Dindoli was admitted to a private hospital in Mazuragate on April 15. He died during treatment. The doctors gave the cause of death, but did not give the file and bill of treatment. The family does not have any paper to prove death from Corona.
Private hospitals do not give file for treatment of Kovid patient
A 56-year-old resident of Dindoli, a 49-year-old resident of Katargam and a 62-year-old elderly woman resident of Majura died while receiving treatment for corona in a private hospital. The hospital gave the cause of death but did not record the treatment.
Putting only 15% of the deaths in the list of Kovid: In both the waves of Kovid, 11 thousand people died, but only 15 percent of the deaths i.e. 1628 were considered to be the cause of corona. Other deaths were considered normal. All the 11 thousand dead were admitted in Kovid hospitals and were taking treatment for Kovid. Despite this, the death of 9372 people was not considered to be corona.
RT-PCR report positive, only then Kovid considers death
- The audit committee only counts the death of RT-PCR positive patient. Only if the RT-PCR report is positive, then the cause of death will be considered as Covid.
- Rapid test and HRCT positive patient’s death is not counted.
- Even if a patient of chronic disease dies of covid, he is not counted.
- Even if the doctor writes Kovid in the cause of death of the patient, then the committee does not agree.
How will you prove without a file that there was death due to corona
After the order of the Supreme Court, now Kovid will be mentioned in the death certificate. But how will the revised certificate be issued to those who have died of Kovid earlier? How will the relatives of those whose death was not considered due to Kovid be able to claim compensation? It is difficult to find answers to them. The hospital does not give the file of treatment to the relatives. The cause of death is written in the file. In such a situation, without valid documents, the family will not be able to take the revised death certificate. They will have to make rounds of hospitals and doctors.
Supreme Court has said that compensation should be given to the relatives
The Supreme Court has said in an important decision that the families of those who lost their lives from Corona are entitled to get compensation. Corona has been declared a ‘disaster’ under the Disaster Management Act. It is the responsibility of the government under the Act. The government cannot refuse this.
However, the court refused to fix the compensation amount and has not issued any direction to the central government in this regard. The court has issued an order to the NDMA i.e. National Disaster Management Authority in the matter to prepare guidelines within six weeks to give ex-gratia or compensation to the families of those who died of corona.
Death Audit Committee has been formed in Civil and Smeer Hospital. Apart from this, on the basis of the cause of death written by the treating doctor patient, we issue a corona press release. – Dr. Pradeep Umrigar, Health Officer Municipal