BMC sets deadline for hospitals to inform about earlier deaths

"The hospitals which have not reported (earlier) deaths should submit the report before 5 pm on June 29," the release said. The commissioner also directed that hospitals should have at least one month's stock of medicines needed to treat coronavirus patients, and procure medicines directly from manufacturing companies by following proper procedures.

Mumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Friday directed all the hospitals in the city to report deaths due to COVID-19 within 48 hours and set a deadline of June 29 for reporting earlier fatalities. The commissioner held a meeting with hospital deans, medical experts, and senior health department officials through video conference said a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release.

As of Thursday, the tally of coronavirus cases in the city was 70,990, and death toll had reached 4,060. Chahal warned of stringent action under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, if hospitals failed to comply, the BMC said.

After a controversy over COVID-19 death figures in the city, Chahal had directed all the hospitals on June 8 to report new deaths within 48 hours, but several hospitals were not following the directive, the BMC said. "The hospitals which have not reported (earlier) deaths should submit the report before 5 pm on June 29," the release said.

The commissioner also directed that hospitals should have at least one month's stock of medicines needed to treat coronavirus patients and procure medicines directly from manufacturing companies by following proper procedures. Earlier this month, the BMC added 862 deaths, which had not been reported, to the pandemic's toll in the country's financial capital.