KOLKATA 18 APRIL: A day after Calcutta High Court ordered the West Bengal government to follow the WHO guidelines while issuing death certificate to the COVID-19 patients, and also asked it to ‘give a deeper look to the requirement of more number of samples being collected and subjected to test on war-footing,’ West Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha claimed that they had decided to increase testing facility after one laboratory at Malda Medical College and Hospital recently got approval from ICMR to conduct testing .
Rajiva Sinha, chief secretary said: “We will start conducting tests from Monday onwards. The machine can test 50 samples per day and it will be easy for us to detect early. If we can detect early we can start our containment strategies immediately on a particular area too.”
Sinha said that till Saturday 4,630 samples have been tested and on a single day 400 were tested .
Till Saturday, 12 deaths have been reported and the number of positive cases stand at 178.
According to the WHO guidelines, under the miscellaneous issues it was mentioned that: “the code of medical ethics permits the disclosure of fact that the deceased was suffering from HIV-AIDS infection. This exception to code of medical ethics is permitted in public overriding confidentiality.”
According to the Opposition parties, WHO guidelines specifically mentions that for the cause of public good, confidentiality in case of death due to a disease can be shared, but our state government is not following the WHO guidelines and trying to suppress the figures of those who died due to this pandemic. Even the WHO death certificate guideline does not mention that an expert committee will ascertain the cause of death in case of a patient who diagnosed with COVID-19 or any other pandemic. The medical practitioner looking after the patient can issue the death certificate and it does not need cross-examination. In case of any unnatural death there is need for cross-examination of the cause of death.
Dilip Ghosh, state BJP president, said: “The WHO death certificate guideline does not recommend an expert committee’s opinion for the cause of death . The medical practioner looking after a patient can issue a death certificate and there is no need to cross-examine. Our chief minister is trying to suppress the death figures and so she has formed an expert committee for cross-examination of deaths.”
Ghosh alleged that and KMC officers are disposing off the dead bodies of COVID19 patient at Dhapa landfills during late night and he compared the incident with the Nandigram killing where CPI(M) leaders allegedly were involved in hiding the dead bodies. Even the relatives of those who died due to COVID 19 does not know where their relatives body has been disposed off.
“If they did not die of COVID19, why did their bodies not handed over to the relatives of the patient .Instead bodies are being kept at MR Bangur Hospital for a prolonged period.” Ghosh alleged.
Under the ‘Cause of Death’ section there are two sub-sections; immediate cause of death and antecedent cause of death. There is a second section which states the manner of death .Under immediate cause of death, one has to write the disease, injury or complications which caused death not the mode of death; and under the antecedent cause of death it has to be mentioned morbid conditions if any giving rise to the above cause, stating underlying conditions last.
West Bengal government has planned its own criteria instead of Center’s guideline to demarcate, red, orange and green zone
As the Center’s guideline to demarcate zones based on red, orange and green zones came later, the West Bengal government has planned its own criteria based on the number of COVID-19 positive cases in a particular area and the deaths.
Senior officials of the state government said that in the KMC area, a particular ward or an area will be looked after by an official and in case of a sensitive zone it will be marked and sealed off as containment zones. In case of districts, the district magistrate has been given the charge to identify a containment zone and follow strict guidelines in order to prevent the spread of the disease.
Sinha said: “We are not demarcating exactly red, orange and green zones. Administration does not function in such manner. If we find that a particular building or a lane is sensitive we are taking strict action in and around that area. Our containment strategy ensures that immediate action should be taken so that it does not spread large-scale.
Sinha also said earlier that while state government is sharing data on COVID-19, health is a state subject and one should not fall for red, orange and green zones. The state government is managing the crisis in their own way and they are getting every support from all individuals including the Center.
After Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave a timeline of 14 days to ensure that effective steps should be taken in the sensitive zones to stop the spread of the disease, Kolkata Police and Howrah Police have already sealed many roads and selected places after Howrah has been declared as ultra sensitive falling under red star zone and Kolkata sensitive zone as demarcated by Union government as red zone.