KOZHIKODE: It seems the state has different parameters in different districts in deciding on a Covid death. Three deaths in the state were due to the infection but remain unregistered. On April 10, 71-year old Rajashekharan Chettiar of Palakkad town died of Covid in a hospital in Coimbatore. He had gone to Coimbatore a week before to treat abdominal pain and renal failure. He tested positive after death.According to Palakkad Deputy District Medical Officer (DMO) K A Nazar, since the rule then was if a patient was diagnosed, treated and died in a state, the death should be recorded there.
Therefore, Kerala did not account for the death. But the Tamil Nadu government, on its part, asked the Palakkad DMO to account it in Kerala’s toll. In short, Chettiar’s death has not been accounted for in either state. Family members of Chettiar told TNIE that they did not enquire with the health departments of both the states.Strange enough, that criterion doesn’t apply in Kannur. Seventy-one-year-old Mahe resident P Mehroof died at the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital on April 11. As he was a resident of Mahe, which comes under the Union Territory of Puducherry, Kerala refused to add his death to its list.
So did Puducherry. Mehroof’s has still not been registered as a Covid death. Kerala recorded its second Covid death, that of Anchayya, a 68-year-old Telangana native, who reached Thiruvananthapuram after boarding a wrong train. He had no history of even a brief stay in the state but, as he was diagnosed and died of Covid in Thiruvananthapuram, his death was recorded under the state’s toll. That yardstick was, however, not allowed in the case of Mehroof.
The death of 55-year old B A Abdul Rahman of Kasaragod because of Covid happened on July 7. Though it was evident that he died after reaching Kasaragod district, the death has not been registered in the state’s list citing that “Rahman died in transit”, according to District Collector D Sajith Babu. Abdul Rahman was a resident of Hubballi in Karnataka and what the collector implied was that the death happened on the way to Kasaragod. But the district Covid surveillance officer, who checked Abdul Rahman’s temperature at Thalappady checkpost, recorded the reading as normal.
Suicide as Covid death
If these three Covid deaths have gone uncounted, there’s an instance in Kozhikode where the swab sample of 68-year-old Krishnan, who ended life on June 27, tested positive after his death. Strange enough, his was counted as a Covid death by the Directorate of Health Services (DHS). “We have considered it as a special case and not as a Covid death. We have no idea how DHS counted it as a Covid death,” says Kozhikode DMO Dr V Jayashree. The state’s Covid death count of 27 includes that of Krishnan also.
‘State not hushing up deaths’
Dr B Mohammad Asheel, executive director of Kerala Social Security Mission (KSSM), explains that there is no hushing up of Covid deaths in the state. “If a patient is diagnosed with Covid in Kerala and taken for better treatment to New Delhi and his death occurs there, it would definitely come under Kerala’s account,” he says. He did not, however, explain the Covid deaths unaccounted for in the state. Interestingly, Asheel cites Kozhikode’s suicide death as a proof to claim that the state is not covering up Covid deaths. “There’s no need to count a suicide death as Covid death as per ICMR protocol, but still we recorded it as the man was diagnosed with Covid,” he said.
Yet another Covid death in state
T’Puram: Another Covid death was reported in the state on Friday, taking the toll to 28. Saifudeen, 67, a native of Manikyavilakom in Thiruvananthapuram, is the deceased. His family members are also under treatment. “His son is the medical representative who tested positive here last week. They have a medical shop opposite the Poonthura Health Centre in Puthenpally ward. Saifudeen had a history of kidney ailments and was also diabetic,” said a district administration official. The Medical College police confirmed that such an intimation was received from the Medical College Hospital. The body has been kept at the Medical College Hospital.
The three cases
On April 10, 71-year old Rajashekharan Chettiar of Palakkad town died of Covid in a hospital in Coimbatore.
Seventy-one-year-old Mahe resident P Mehroof died at the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital on April 11.
B A Abdul Rahman, 55, of Kasaragod, died of Covid while coming from Karnataka on July 7.
(With inputs from Palakkad)