Uttarakhand: 13 Hospitals Served Notices for Late Reporting of COVID-19 Deaths

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Health Department has served notices to 13 government and private hospitals for late reporting of 218 COVID deaths, many of them dating back to even January and February.

The notices were issued to these hospitals on Wednesday on the direction of Director General Health Tripti Bahuguna for late reporting of COVID deaths, the state control room for COVID cases here said. 

The notices have also been sent to the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) concerned, it said.  

The hospitals that have been served notices include Baba Neem Karoli Hospital, Nainital, Base Hospital, Almora, Covid Health Centre, Lamgara, State Allopathic Dispensary Dhaulchina, Base Hospital, Kotdwar (Pauri), DCHC Koteshwar, Rudraprayag, District Hospital Pithoragarh, District Hospital, Bageshwar, Government Doon Medical College Dehradun, Military Hospital, Pithoragarh, Sai Hospital, Nainital, STHG, Haldwani and Vinay Vishal Healthcare, Haridwar, it said.

Maximum 47 backlog COVID deaths have been reported from  District Hospital, Pithoragarh, followed by 36 backlog deaths from Base Hospital, Almora and 32 backlog deaths from Base Hospital, Kotdwar.   

Base Hospital, Almora on Wednesday also reported COVID deaths, which occurred from January 21 to February 21.  

When a private hospital in Haridwar reported 65 COVID deaths late by over a fortnight in May, Health Secretary Amit Negi had written a strongly-worded letter to all hospitals asking them to stick to the drill of regularly furnishing the state control room with the figures or face action.

Death summary of COVID patients should be sent to the state COVID control room daily by hospitals or else tough action will be taken against the guilty under the Epidemic Act, he had said in the letter. 

However, the practice appears to have continued.      

"I express my deep despair at the sheer callousness being displayed by our hospitals and authorities. This deserves absolute and unequivocal condemnation," Dehradun-based social activist Anoop Nautiyal said.  

"With addition of the backlog Covid deaths reported on Wednesday, the total number of such deaths in Uttarakhand reported on 47 different days has shot up to 1,210," he said.

Nautiyal said all the 13 districts of the state have reported backlog Covid deaths.

"It is alarming to note that 88% of the 218 backlogs reported on June 30 are from hill districts," he said citing data published by his organisation called Social Development for Communities Foundation.