Central team seeks interaction with Bengal's COVID-19 death audit committee

The central team visiting Kolkata to assess the COVID-19 situation wrote to the West Bengal government on Friday seeking a detailed report on the functioning of the coronavirus death audit committee and a meeting with its members, and expressed displeasure at the arrangements in hospitals and quarantine centres. In a letter to Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, the inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) led by senior bureaucrat Apurba Chandra, sought to know the system of approving the declaration of the death of COVID-19 patients by a committee of doctors, which was set up by the state government.

There have been allegations from various quarters that the state government is hiding coronavirus cases and deaths. "The principal health secretary on April 23 gave some reasons for the establishment of the committee of doctors and also mentioned that if a COVID patient dies in a road accident, he cannot be said to have died of COVID," Chandra said in his letter to Sinha.

"The IMCT did not find the reason convincing as there is no comparison between a road death and a death in a hospital due to disease," he said. The team sought the case records of all the COVID-19 patients, where the cause of death is attributed to some other cause by the committee.

"We would like to know whether such a committee is in line with ICMR guidelines or medical practice," Chandra added. Referring to his visit to hospitals and quarantine centres in Kolkata on Thursday, Chandra said the patient admission process appeared to be chaotic and there was no social distancing in the waiting area for patients.

"There were a large number of patients in the isolation wards of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) as well as Bangur Hospital, awaiting COVID test results for five days or longer. "It is not clear why test results should take such a long time and there is a danger of COVID negative patient acquiring the infection in the hospital while awaiting test results," he said in his letter.

Pointing out that only 12 ventilators beds were available at M R Bangur Hospital even as it caters to 354 serious COVID patients, the IMCT referred to a recent report of a body lying in a ward and sought to know the time the hospital takes to issue a death certificate and shift a body to the mortuary. Regarding the number of tests at 900 per day, Chandra sought information on the number of repeat tests and first- time patients.

Reacting to Chandra's letter, state chief secretary Rajiva Sinha said that the Health Department would reply to the letters as they are mostly related to their department. "They have written to me several letters including two today. Since the subject of the letters is related to health, I have forwarded those to the secretary of the department for sending replies," he said.

Responding to a query, Sinha said 57 people, who tested positive for the contagion in the state, have died, but only 18 of those deaths can be attributed to COVID-19, while "the remaining 39 deaths occurred due to pre-existing conditions or comorbidity which were the immediate cause of deaths and COVID was the incidental finding". The ruling Trinamool Congress upped the ante against the team, accusing it of working with "some pre-decided agenda".

"What they have written in the letter is in the public domain, it has been out in the media. It seems that the team is working with some pre-decided agenda. "The kind of allegations and questions they have raised reflects that they are completely unaware of the norms of medical science. The people of Bengal are watching everything," Senior TMC leader and MP Santanu Sen, who is also president of Indian Medical Association (IMA), said.

Chandra on Wednesday had written a letter to Sinha and sought a detailed presentation from the West Bengal government on whether the level of testing in the state is adequate and enough oxygen, ICU beds and ventilators are available. Meanwhile, an official said, the central team on Friday visited Dumurjola Stadium, where a quarantine centre was set up, and a private hospital treating COVID-19 patients in Howrah.

Besides the team for Kolkata, another IMCT headed by senior HRD Ministry official Vineet Joshi has been visiting north Bengal. The Joshi-led team on Friday visited the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) in Siliguri, where several COVID-19 patients are undergoing treatment.

The central team spoke to doctors and officials and took note of the details at NBMCH. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier slammed the Centre for sending the teams to look into the state's preparedness for tackling the COVID-19 outbreak and alleged that faulty testing kits were dispatched to the state.