AIIMS, Safdarjung accused of reporting deaths late, served show cause notice
Delhi has recorded the highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases on the last day of lockdown 4.0 with 1295 cases on Sunday taking the tally of Covid-19 positive patients in the national capital to 19,844, a little shy of the 20,000-mark, which it is likely to cross on June 1, going by the current trend.
The record rise came on a day when the government asked several top hospitals in the capital to explain alleged delay in reporting of Covid-19 deaths in the capital while stating that it amounted to a violation of government orders and the disaster management act.
As per the Delhi government health bulletin issued on Sunday, show cause notices have been issued to AIIMS hospital, Lok Nayak hospital, RML hospital and Safdarjung hospital to explain the reasons for delay in reporting death cases in violation of the directions issued by the health department of the government of the national capital territory as well as by Delhi disaster management authority (DDMA) under the Disaster Management Act.
The show cause notices have been issued after a total of 57 deaths due to coronavirus, with some even dating back to April 5, were released collectively on May 30. A detailed break-up of deaths reported on May 30 shows that only 4 casualties were recorded on the day and the remaining 53 deaths took place between April 5 and May 29.
Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty hospital–all located in the capital—were also issued memorandums to explain the reasons for delay in reporting death cases and for the alleged violation of the directions issued by the above mentioned authorities.
The other major dedicated Covid hospital, the Lok Nayak hospital- which was recently at the centre of a row over mismatch of reported casualty figures– has been sent an advisory to be careful in future and follow the orders or guidelines issued by the department in true letter and spirit so that there is no anomaly in the deaths being reported by the government.
Facing criticism over alleged under reporting of Covid-19 deaths, the Delhi government had recently issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for hospitals and other health facilities in the city setting a template on reporting fatalities due to coronavirus.
In other information, the medical bulletin released on May 31 listed 416 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cured patients in the city-state to 8,478, which leaves nearly 10,893 active cases in the capital. The bulletin said that 13 patients detected with coronavirus had died in the last 24 hours in the city, driving the casualties figure up to 473.
Delhi has a total of 103 containment zones as on Sunday and 5,781 Covid-19 positive patients are at home isolation currently, as against 2,586 positive patients receiving medical attention in designated Covid hospitals, 624 positive patients admitted to dedicated Covid Care Centres (CCS) and another 158 patients under treatment at dedicated Covid Health Centres (CHCs). 208 of all active patients are currently under ICU care and 43 are on ventilator support, as per the bulletin.
The Delhi administration has also issued an order regarding additional guidelines for better management of dead bodies of Covid patients and suspected cases at the mortuaries of various hospitals under the government of Delhi.
The government has also ordered the constitution of a five member advisory committee to examine and suggest various steps of the Homoeopathic system of medicine that could possibly be used as an immunity booster against Covid -19 infection.
HT
