CUTTACK: Taking serious exception to the manner in which the State government has divulged data on deaths due to Covid-19, the Orissa High Court has refused to accept its affidavit on the issue and directed for submission of comprehensive and up to date figures before the next hearing on September 7.
The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray observed that the affidavit, which is a short one of just three paragraphs, enclosed a chart showing the district-wise audited deaths due to Covid till July 15. The chart indicated that the total number of positive cases in all 30 districts was 9,49,929 and the number of deaths was 4,925.
The bench said the issue arose on account of figures placed in the public domain by the CDM&PHO, Nayagarh which was indicative of the fact that in a short span of just two months, there had been 117 cases of Covid deaths in one district whereas the official statistics at that stage had indicated a far less figure. But the affidavit does not indicate whether the figure put out by the CDM&PHO was correct and what was the reason for the discrepancy when compared with the official statistics, the bench observed.
On July 5, the court had issued specific directions over undercounting of Covid deaths in the State. Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra had filed the affidavit on July 19. The affidavit was taken up on Wednesday.
“Likewise, it is not known what was the extent of under-reported deaths in each of the other districts. The modality of conducting the audit of quality of care and death review has also not been explained”, the bench further observed.
Expressing reluctance to accept the affidavit, the bench in its order said, “The court directs that a far more detailed affidavit be filed by the Additional Chief Secretary on this aspect before the next date (September 7) indicating whether in fact the figures now disclosed can be accepted as reliable figures of the actual number of Covid deaths in the district”. The bench also directed that the affidavit should indicate updated statistics as on August 31.