Goa govt slaps notices on pvt hospitals for delay in report on Covid deaths

Panaji The Goa government has issued show cause notices to private hospitals, who have delayed in informing the State administration about Covid-19-related deaths in their facilities, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said. The Chief Minister's revelation comes a day after the opposition demanded his resignation, after the Health Ministry over Monday and Tuesday claimed that 72 Covid-19 deaths from August 2020 to May 2021, had been reported late by private hospitals in the state.

"The mistake has been made by them (private hospitals). They had not informed the government at all. We have issued them a show cause according to the Health Act. The process is going on," Sawant said. The Chief Minister also said that Goa was the only State in the country which recorded every single Covid death, which gave the impression that the State had a high mortality rate compared to other States.

"Compared to other States, Covid deaths are 100 per cent recorded, which is why (our numbers are higher)," Sawant said. The Chief Minister also said that even deaths in home isolation were reported 100 per cent with rare exceptions. "In many cases, home isolation death cases are reported to the PHCs (public health centres). They are brought on record. There might be one or two rare exceptions... As far as I know, when the patients are in extreme condition, the patient is brought to the PHCs, there is not a single Covid death which has not been recorded in PHCs," Sawant said.

"Even a deceased, who has not been tested before, a throat swab is taken from the dead body. It is tested. Sometimes the body had to be held back for a couple of days for this purpose. The body has been released only after the results," Sawant also said.