Will follow ICMR norms to audit deaths: West Bengal

The West Bengal government has decided to divest an expert committee of doctors of the primary duty it was to perform --auditing deaths among patients testing positive for the coronavirus disease and figuring out whether they had succumbed to the viral disease or to co-morbidities they ailed from.Opposition parties have alleged that the committee had been formed to suppress the number of Covid-19 deaths

“The committee will continue doing academic and research work. Death declaration will no longer require its vetting. It will be declared as per protocols set by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),” a top official of the state health department said on Friday, requesting anonymity.

New Delhi-based ICMR, India’s apex medical research organisation, is deciding on Covid-19 procedures, protocols and treatments. The state government will now declare Covid-19 deaths as per the death certificate, which will mention the immediate cause of death, the antecedent cause of death and underlying cause of death.

Only those deaths whose immediate cause is listed in the death certificate as the coronavirus disease will likely be listed among the fatalities caused by the pandemic, health officials said.

The Covid-19 death audit committee was set up on April 3 by chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the health portfolio. As of April 30, the committee assessed the deaths of 105 patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 and attributed 33 deaths to coronavirus infection and 72 deaths to “severe co-morbid conditions.”

“The committee examined all the relevant documents, including...treatment history, laboratory investigation reports, death certificates and other documents sent by the hospitals concerned,” to determine whether Covid-19 or pre-morbid conditions were the immediate cause of death, according to a government document dated April 24 and signed by Bishwa Ranjan Satpati, who heads the expert committee.

Ths committee’s role of differenting between Covid-19 and pre-existing ailments as the cause of a Covid-19 patient’s death had triggered a political controversy. Even an inter-ministerial central team, in its letter to the state on April 22, asked the administration to clarify the basis on which the decision had been taken.

The state government seems to have changed its stance on the role of the committee after leaders of different doctors’ associations raised the issue during their meeting with the chief minister on April 28.

“We had told the chief minister that such differentiation was necessary for academic purposes only and the debates around identifying the immediate cause of death should remain confined within the boundaries of academic institutions. We are very grateful to the government for listening to the suggestion of the doctors. We expect the government would henceforth list deaths of all Covid-19 patients as Covid-19 deaths,” said Rezaul Karim, a leader of the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum who attended the meeting with the chief minister.

Explaining the new role of the committee, chief secretary Rajiva Sinha said, “All death cases will no longer be referred to the committee. They will pick up random cases, fetch details from hospitals, and then give recommendations to the state.”