No mention of ‘Covid’ on death certs raises questions

No mention of ‘Covid’ on death certs raises questions

Sumitra.DebRoy@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:04.06.2020

The term ‘Covid’ was missing from the death certificate of a 65-year-old Bhandup man who passed away on May 31 after three days of treatment in the Covid ward of Sion Hospital. Taking it to be a case of ‘natural’ death as was mentioned in the certificate, his son carried out the last rites following all rituals, only to be told the next day that his father was Covid-positive and that their house had to be placed under containment.

In another incident last week, a Vile Parle family faced a similar situation when Cooper Hospital doctors allegedly labelled the death of their 41-year-old Covid-positive relative as ‘natural’ and gave them the body. This man’s funeral was attended by almost 15 people, and the body was not even wrapped. As the death certificate didn’t even mention ‘Covid suspect,’ the family carried out the cremation on a wooden pyre instead of the electrical one.

Though BMC states that it is transparent about numbers and that cases are added to the overall tally after they are confirmed and scrutinised, such curious incidents of the terms ‘Covid’ or even ‘Covid suspect’ being missing from death certificates have led to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya alleging these were tactics employed to hide deaths. Civic officials admitted that if the deceased’s Covid report was awaited, the term ‘Covid suspect’ should be mentioned in the certificate.

The 65-year-old Bhandup resident, Atmaram More, died on May 31 after suffering from fever and cough for more than a week. His son, Krishna, who was taken to a quarantine centre in Kanjurmarg on Wednesday, said his father was refused by four hospitals before Sion Hospital admitted him on May 28. More also had hypertension as an underlying condition, which complicated things for him, the son said. More was admitted in ward 15, a Covid ward, where his swabs were taken during the course of treatment. The report, however, did not arrive till after he passed away at 9am on May  31.

“The death certificate said he had died of ‘Type-1 respiratory failure’ and even mentioned pneumonia. It didn’t say Covid anywhere and not even Covid suspect,” the son said.

The son pointed out, “We were taken by surprise when civic authorities arrived at our house on June 1 to seal it.

Full report on www.toi.in