‘26% of Covid-19 deaths take place within 24 hours of hospitalisation’: Centre’s report

As many as 26 percent of deaths among Covid-19 patients take place within 24 hours of hospitalisation, suggests a report from the ministry of health and family welfare (MOHFW).

Through a circular dated October 23, 2020, sent to all the collectors and chief medical and health officers (CMHOs) across the state by commissioner of health services, Dr Sanjay Goyal, the officials in the districts have been asked to work on the challenges and action plan as incorporated in the ministry’s report dated October 12, 2020 based on a review meeting held by secretary, ministry of health and family welfare with secretaries in health departments of various states.

The Centre’s report also stated, “This needs urgent attention of hospital-wise analysis mortality. State is to ensure early case identification and prompt shifting of patients to hospitals.”

“State is expected to maintain the increasing trend of testing till positivity goes below 5 percent”, the report stated and further suggested increasing the number of tests through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on patients who test negative on rapid antigen tests but have symptoms of the disease.

The report also stated, “There are about 16 percent of patients in ICU/oxygen supported beds. State should review its oxygen supply plan.”

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Head of department of pulmonary medicine at Bopal’s People’s College of Medical Science and Research Centre, Dr Sanjay Tandon said, “The data in the report suggests late arrival of Covid-19 patients at hospitals which should be a matter of concern. There may be several factors behind it inter alia like lack of awareness, illiteracy, fear of isolation, social taboo, cost of treatment (in case of paid treatment), etc.”

He said another factor behind the late arrival of patients at hospitals and identification of patients could be a section of people having nurtured the false belief that they couldn’t be affected by the disease. “There are a large number of people on streets and in markets seen moving around without wearing masks. It’s a horrible situation. People are also relying on unscientific methods of treatment at homes like drinking hot water, brew of herbs, inhaling steam, etc. There is no proven fact that a Covid patient can be cured with hot water etc,” he added.

Dr Tandon said, “since it’s pandemic time, there is no harm in treating such patients as Covid patients who have clear symptoms of Covid but their tests have come back negative. The treatment is not an expensive one. It can save several lives.”

Head of chest disease department, Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore, Dr Ravi Dosi said, “Testing needs to be increased and people with Covid symptoms have to be identified and treated early to reduce the number of deaths. There is a need for mass awareness campaign to ensure people wear masks and maintain social distancing which is found missing.”

Public health expert Amulya Nidhi said, “As per the death analysis done by the government in the month of May, more than 31 percent of deaths among Covid patients took place in the first 24 hours and 60 to 70 percent in the first 3 days. There has been a regular analysis by the government of the Covid situation. But it’s unfortunate that the government’s action doesn’t suggest that it is serious about its own analysis or about the advisories from the Centre from time to time. Also, the government continues to fail in sharing data on the breakup on RAT and RT-PCR tests on people. There have been cases wherein people were found Covid positive even after RAT showing a negative result.”

Commissioner, health services, Dr Sanjay Goyal said, “We can’t say that the situation is alarming. There is a constant improvement in terms of Covid cases and deaths. The fact is the situation in Madhya Pradesh is far better than that in several other states. However, besides a mass awareness campaign to identify and treat patients early, our major focus is on strengthening our infrastructure and enhancing the quality of treatment. We have succeeded on both fronts.”

As per the health department bulletin released on Saturday, as many as 1,004 new Covid-19 cases were identified within the past 24 hours taking the tally of total cases in the state to 166,298. There were 20 more fatalities during the period to take the death toll to 2,875 with the overall death rate registered at 1.72 percent. With the recovery of 1,268 patients during the period, as many as 151,946 patients have recovered from the disease and were discharged from hospitals. Around 31,695 Covid-19 fresh tests have been conducted during the period to take the tally of tests to 2,75,0620.

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