MADURAI: At least 37 Covid patients reportedly died at Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in just 24 hours till Friday evening. Sources said that until last October, the number of Covid deaths reported at the hospital was on declining trend. “However, there has been an alarming spike in the number in the past 15 days,” they said.
An official said that in a day, at least 25 patients at GRH who are diagnosed with Covid-19 (tests positive in RT-PCR test) or clinical Covid (tests negative in RT-PCR test but has lung involvement akin to Covid patient) or suspected Covid (RT-PCR results awaited at the time of death) are being reported dead.
In a span of 24 hours, at least 41 patients, admitted to Covid wings of GRH, died and were cremated/buried at various places in Madurai and the surrounding districts on Friday, sources said, adding that of them, 37 had tested positive.
“As a result, on Friday, long queues could be witnessed at the two electric crematoriums in the city. Due to an overwhelming number of bodies that arrive at the Thathaneri crematorium, the working hours were extended till 10 pm four days ago, based on an oral instruction from Madurai Corporation authorities,” sources said.
Long wait and queues at crematoriums next cause for concern?
The second gasifier at Thathaneri crematorium that was dysfunctional for more than a year was fixed and began its operation on Friday to handle the increased number of corpses, they added. The son of a banker who died of Covid at the GRH said that he had to wait for two-and-a-half hours at one of the crematoriums in the city to cremate the body of his father who died on Friday.
Deaths under-reported?
As per the bulletin issued by the State Health department, 51 Covid deaths were reported in Madurai district from April 1 to April 30. Of them, 49 Covid deaths were reported at various private hospitals in the city while only two Covid deaths in the district were reported at GRH in the last 30 days - death of a 36-year-old man who died on April 15 and was recorded in the bulletin on April 17 and death of a 56-year-old man who died on April 28 and was recorded in the bulletin on April 30.
When asked if Covid deaths at the GRH are being underreported, Dean of GRH, Dr J Sangumani, denied it saying, the hospital treats Covid patients not only from Madurai district but also from other southern districts and receives several cases of delayed referrals from other hospitals. He added that only the deaths of those who test positive in RT-PCR are recorded officially (in the bulletin) as a Covid victim. He pointed out that a few bodies of suspected Covid patients are stored at the hospital for a day or two until the Covid test results arrive.
The hospital is equipped with nearly 10 freezer boxes that are earmarked for Covid patients admitted to the Superspeciality Block and the Trauma Care block. Commenting on the facilities to store the bodies of patients who died at both the Covid wings, an official said that arrangements are being made to convert one additional room into a makeshift morgue.
Expressing concerns over the preparedness to handle higher number of Covid deaths in the wake of the second wave, GRH officials and sources at the district administration sought the operation of additional hearse vans. Asenior official at Madurai Corporation said that with bereaved families gathering in large numbers at the crematoriums and waiting there for hours, could potentially turn crematoriums into hotspots.