Private hospitals instructed to audit, study Covid-19 deaths

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has instructed private hospitals to appoint a committee to audit Covid-19 deaths.

Additional municipal commissioner Rubal Agrawal said, “Though Covid-19 cases are decreasing in the city, the death count is high. An average of 25-30 Covid deaths are recorded daily. Even the number of critical patients is high. With the focus now on saving lives, we have instructed hospitals to appoint internal committees to study Covid-19 deaths.”

The official said that though some hospitals already have committees to examine Covid deaths, now it will cover all hospitals.

Agrawal said, “We have asked hospital administration to send reports to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). A committee of doctors will study the treatment protocol, patients’ history and treatment carried out before getting admitted to the hospital.”

Pune Municipal Corporation health department has instructed CT scan and X-ray centres in the city to keep a record of patients. A civic official said that cases have been reported of residents showing Covid symptoms preferring to do X-ray and city scan on their own and their count are not getting recorded with the civic body. Hence, PMC have asked these clinic centres to inform about these cases as it will help PMC carry out contact tracing.

Avinash Bhondwe, Maharashtra IMA head said, “If the purpose of this drive is research based and senior doctors are going to do audit, then it is okay. But it should not ve for the purpose of just increasing clerical work. This type of audit should not be limited only for private hospitals but also needed for government hospitals. Already there is a practice in big hospitals. They use to do analysis of each death and it is old practice. The PMC should clarify the intention of such audit as this work is carried out only by medical experts.”

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