Kerala decentralises reporting of COVID-19 deaths, allowing them to be declared at the district level.
On Monday, the Kerala government announced that the reporting of COVID-19 deaths will be decentralized, with fatalities caused by COVID-19 now being reported district-by-district online. Kerala Health Minister Veena George said in a press release on June 14 that an order had been issued approving the proposal. There has been a squabble in the state over the reporting of COVID-19 deaths, with opposition parties and a group of doctors accusing the government of underreporting the disease’s toll. The state had been announcing daily deaths at the state level based on data consolidated from districts. While reiterating that the state was following World Health Organization (WHO) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines in reporting deaths, the Health Minister noted that an online portal had been set up for the purpose.
“From now on, all deaths will be reported through this online portal, which features a real-time entry system. With online death reporting, the time it takes to determine whether a death was caused by COVID-19 or not can be reduced as much as possible “According to the Minister’s statement. A Death Audit Committee (DAC) and a Death Declaration Committee (DDC) are in place in the state. While the former submit the data that is reported in COVID-19’s daily reports, the declaration committee works on technicalities and assigns an identification number to identify the deaths. The Audit Committee must investigate the causes of deaths and devise ways to prevent them. To avoid confusion, DAC members have proposed declaring COVID-19 deaths at the district level.
“The online medical bulletin describing the cause of death must be prepared by either the medical superintendent or the doctor in charge at the hospital where the death occurred. That must be uploaded to the portal, along with details and images. The District Medical Officer must confirm this within 24 hours (DMO). The District Surveillance Officer and Additional District Medical Officer would investigate if it was a COVID-19 death, as per the guidelines. The DMO would look into this to see if it was a COVID-19 death “According to the Minister’s statement.
It went on to say that after confirmation at the district level, the death would be reported to the state-level declaring committee, and state-level deaths would be declared based on reports from all 14 districts. The Congress-led opposition had also expressed concern about complaints that the state government’s COVID-19 death toll was inaccurate.
