Punjab orders audit of every COVID-19 death to understand and check high mortality rate

To check mortality rate due to the outbreak of Coronavirus in the state, the Punjab government has decided to conduct audit of every death caused by COVID-19 besides strengthening its pandemic containment measures by teams of experts.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh claimed to have ordered detailed audit of every death due to the virus by experts to understand and check the high mortality rate in the state, and the government was also strengthening its pandemic containment measures, under the guidance of an expert team.

The Chief Minister apprised Congress president Sonia Gandhi during a video conference that the state government was being guided by a group of experts in handling the COVID-19 crisis. The group comprises Dr. K K Talwar, former Director of PGI, Dr. Raj Bahadur, Vice Chancellor of Baba Farid Health University, Dr. Rajesh Kumar, former Head, School of Public Health, PGI, experts from PGI, John Hopkins University and some other intellectuals.

Capt. Amarinder Singh revealed that in place of 1 lakh rapid testing kits (RTKs), Punjab has received only 10,000 kits of Chinese make and their authenticity was yet to be established. He said 3502 cases were tested before ICMR suspended such tests. Punjab currently has 10500 rapid testing kits supplied by ICMR, while 10000 had been ordered by the government, with deliveries in progress. The government has also floated tender inquiry for another 50000 kits, he added.

The mortality numbers in the state were high largely due to co-morbidity and lack of health-seeking behaviour (patients come late to hospital), said Capt Amarinder Singh.

An official spokesperson of the government informed that despite the high mortality rate of 6.2 per cent, the rate of growth of COVID-19 in the Punjab was lower than India, with the cases doubling in 16 days against the national average of 9 days. In percentage terms, cases in Punjab had steadily declined from 2.57 per cent of the total cases in India (as of March 31) to 1.22 per cent in three weeks (till April 22), he said.

The Chief Minister cited the example of Nawanshahar as a case of effective containment that had been appreciated by the Union government as well as the media. In Nawanshahar, which was one of the first hotspots in the country, all 18 treated cases (besides one initial death of Granthi Baldev Singh) had recovered and had been discharged, and no case had been reported since March 26, 2020, he said during the meeting.

The CM said Punjab had to be compared with Kerala and Gujarat, which were also states with high NRI population. Punjab was doing significantly better than Gujarat, and in terms of cases per million population, even lower than Kerala (9/million in Punjab vs. 12/million in Kerala), he pointed out.

Punjab currently has 278 positive cases, with 17 deaths and two critical patients (one on ventilator and one on HDU), while 53 had been cured/discharged.  The state has three containment zones (where there are more than 15 cases) -- Jawaharpur, Safabadi Gate-Patiala, Budhlada), while three districts (Ferozepur, Fazilka, Bathinda) are Green Zones with no cases.

With respect to testing, the CM said 7887 tests have been done so far, with regular testing facility at GMC, Amritsar and GMC, Patiala, GMC Faridkot and IMTECH, Chandigarh, and PGI Chandigarh. In addition, testing facilities are available in private hospitals at Ludhiana and Amritsar. Clearance for CMC Ludhiana and SGRD Medical College, Amritsar for testing is in process, he disclosed. At present, the testing rate in the state, at 248/million, is slightly lower than national average of 309/million (excluding Rapid Testing).