Central team seeks Bengal’s response on methodology to determine COVID-19 deaths

New Delhi, Apr 24: The Inter-Ministerial Central Team has written to the West Bengal Chief Secretary to explain the methodology used by the Committee of Doctors in West Bengal to ascertain the death due to coronavirus.

The team also sought to know if the steps taken were in line with the ICMR guidelines.

The principal secretary (health) in his presentation on April 23m 2020, gave some reasons for the establishment of the Committee of Doctors and also mentioned that if a COVID-19 patient dies in a road accident, he cannot be said to have died of the virus.

The IMCT did not find the reasoning convincing as there's no comparison between a road death and a death in hospital due to disease. The team also sought to know about the government order to constitute the committee of doctors to declare cause of death for COVID-19 patients. It also sought the case records of all patients where cause of death is attributed to some other cause by the committee.

The IMCT also sought details on the time taken by the committee in coming to its conclusion. Whether such a committee to ascertain the cause of death exists for any other disease in the state of West Bengal, the team also sought to know. The IMCT also sought for an interaction with this committee to understand the methodology.