Covid-19 deaths undercounted by 500 in Mum?

Mumbai:  16.06.2020

The Covid-19 toll in Mumbai could climb as Maharashtra government has asked the BMC to revisit hundreds of deaths that may not have been added to the toll, report Sumitra Deb Roy & Bhavika Jain.

Multiple sources confirmed to TOI that Covid-19 mortality numbers in the city could jump by 400-500 though civic authorities were tightlipped about the exercise. Mumbai’s toll touched 2,250 on Monday. Principal health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas issued a notice on June 11 to the civic body stating all municipal corporations and districts had undertaken a data reconciliation exercise.

‘Any Covid toll data mismatch will be viewed seriously’

The letter ended with a caution that “any data mismatch brought to notice subsequently would be viewed very seriously”. Sources told TOI the data cleaning exercise was prompted by concerns that many Covid-19 deaths in Mumbai were not being added to the toll.

Speaking to TOI, Ajoy Mehta said the decision to get the data reconciled was made after discrepancies were noticed in many cases.

BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis alleged on Monday that the BMC has not accounted for 951 Covid-19 deaths in the city. He alleged that of the 951 cases, various hospitals had reported 500 cases as Covid-19 deaths, but the death audit committee, which certifies deaths, is yet to certify them as such.

On the discrepancies, Mehta said, “There was an entry of a Covid-positive patient in our system, but he was neither discharged nor his death added to the tally as he may have died due to other medical complications like a cardiac arrest. But since he was Covid-positive, his death should have been reported as a Covid death,” Mehta said. He added that as per the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, the death of a person who has tested positive for an infectious disease has to be reported as death due to that disease, except in three situations—if the person with the infection died in an animal attack, accident/ crime or suicide. “Even if a death has not taken place due to Covid but the person had Covid, the Act clearly says the death can be due to any cause but if he is having an infectious disease, it has to be reported,” Mehta said.