Duplication in COVID death figures: Kerala DMOs receive notice from health authorities

The Health authorities issued memos on 29th January to 5 health officers and demanded an explanation on duplication in COVID-19 death figures within 15 days of receiving the memo. These 5 DMOs were respectively in charge of Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, and Kozhikode during that period, reports a daily.

The Principal secretary (health) Rajan Khobragade told Times of India, " Though the director of health services reported 7,023 pending cases, it has come to the notice of the government that more than 8,500 cases were uploaded. After the scrutiny of all the pending death declarations as uploaded by the DMOs, it was found that 527 deaths were duplicate among the 3,779 declared as on November 17, 2021."

He further mentioned that the authorities have instructed the DMOs to report the total pending death declaration cases as all the cases were not declared as COVID deaths within the stipulated time. The correcting number of COVID cases was 3,252. However, 3779 cases were reported as 527 cases were reported twice. This indicated a serious lapse in the system of reporting the COVID data.

However, the DMOs, on the other hand, alleged that they were in no way responsible for the mishap and pointed out that the district surveillance officers were in charge of the COVID activities and the latter were handling the daily reporting of cases and deaths as well. "The number of deaths occurring in the district was compiled and to the directorate of health services for preparing the state data. This state data was sent to the office of the health secretary. This was the procedure in the initial days," said a former DMO.

Along with it, another issue came to light that there were previously allegations about the health department not reporting the exact number of daily COVID deaths and the authorities were trying to cover it up. Afterward, when the supreme court initiated changes in the guidelines regarding COVID death declaration, the state had to step up and include the deaths which were previously ignored and not declared during the initial period, reports a daily.

" These names might have been given from the districts again and it might have been included from the state level also. It would have resulted in duplication. Or else the duplication might have happened during data entry. How can a DMO be blamed for this?" asked a former DMO.