GUWAHATI: The death of every Covid-19 patient in Assam will be “audited” from now on.
The Assam government has constituted a medical board that will examine the cause of deaths of Covid-19 patients. This is in deference to fresh guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“Assam Govt has constituted a 4-member Death Audit Board for #COVID19 in accordance with @ICMRDELHI guidelines. Officially a death will be attributed to #Covid-19 only after the Board has ascertained it,” Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted.
Two days ago, he had said the ICMR guidelines essentially meant that the death of any Covid-19 patient must not be attributed to the disease unless so ascertained.
“The guideline says Covid-19 has to be an underlined cause of death. Therefore, the number of such deaths will plummet,” the Minister had told journalists.
According to official figures available, Assam has 16,806 Covid-19 positive cases including 36 deaths. The number of people recovered is 10,894. Currently, there are 5,873 active cases.
Guwahati has turned out to be a hotspot of the disease which prompted the authorities to enforce a 14-day lockdown that was extended by one week from Monday.