TN hasn’t recorded 236 Covid deaths in Chennai

TN hasn’t recorded 236 Covid deaths in Chennai

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.06.2020

At least 460 people have died of Covid-19 in Chennai till June 8, which is more than double the 224 announced by the directorate of public health (DPH), a scrutiny of the city corporation death registry has revealed.

A team of DPH officials on Tuesday found that the death register maintained by the health officer of the Greater Chennai Corporation had recorded 236 more deaths than the state register. If these deaths had been added, the fatality rate in the state would have been close to 1.5%, against the 0.7% reported by state officials.

On Tuesday, TOI had reported that at least 20 Covid deaths logged by the Railway hospital in Perambur were not reported to the Covid-19 state nodal office. “We have no intention of hiding any deaths. We are transparent. This revision exercise also shows that,” health minister C Vijayabaskar told TOI.

All government medical college hospitals and some private hospitals have to report deaths to the state and city corporation through email. “Many have not submitted it and we are finding out why. We will add the cases to the death registry after verification,” said health secretary Beela Rajesh. “A committee has been formed to reconcile the issue within a week,” she said.

DPH has issued showcause notices to hospitals and set up a committee to “streamline” death reports. It also directed the Greater Chennai Corporation to send all Covid-19 death reports to the state health agency in a prescribed format. Public health officials have also been directed to analyse all domiciliary deaths and see if they could be described as “probable Covid”, as per ICMR guidelines.

Officials in the health department of Chennai corporation said they had nearly 75% less deaths, partly because they have not updated the state death registry as they were short-staffed.

Epidemiologists say doctors have to declare Covid deaths and probable Covid deaths along with a list of comorbidities. Like in every other death declaration sheets, the forms 4 and 4 (a) will also ask doctors to write down underlying cause, contributing factors and immediate cause. WHO has provided codes for Covid-19 deaths – U07.1 for all Covid deaths and U07.2 for probable Covid deaths. In second case, Covid-19 virus is not identified through test, but doctors have clinically or epidemiologically diagnosed and suspect the virus.

“Accurate data is necessary to measure the public health impact, plan for timely health interventions and protect communities. At the same time, other health conditions affecting populations need to be also monitored,” said an official.

A man sprays disinfectant at the crematorium where the last rites of DMK MLA Anbazhagan were being performed on Wednesday

DMK MLA succumbs to Covid on b’day

DMK MLA J Anbazhagan, who passed away on his 62nd birthday at a Chennai hospital on Wednesday, became the first legislator in the country to die of Covid-19. The Chepauk constituency member was admitted to a private hospital on June 2 after he complained of breathing difficulties. He later tested positive for Covid-19. His mortal remains were laid to rest at Kannammapet burial ground in the city. A three-time MLA, Anbazhagan was DMK’s Chennai west district secretary.

Anbazhagan, who even dabbled in film distribution, had friends cutting across parties. The condolences that poured in through the day just went to prove that. Governor Banwarilal Purohit and CM Edappadi K Palaniswami led the people in expressing their condolences to the legislator’s family. TNN