Why Bihar ordered a death audit and what it says?
On June 9, as the Bihar government added 3951 more deaths to the states toll of 5458, it jumped to 9429. By June 12, the states death toll had nearly doubled to stand at 9,484 deaths. Official sources say a large chunk of these deaths are of those who died of post Covid complications, those who died in home isolation and who succumbed on the way to hospital. Incidentally, at least six states Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh have been reconciled their death data in the last one month, thereby adding over 20,000 fatalities to the cumulative Covid toll. These corrections have not only pushed up the countrys death count, but also hints at the gaps in feedback mechanism, leading to under-reporting of Covid fatalities during the peak of the outbreak in India during April and May. The conclusions from this reconciliation of data are that the Nitish government is willing to accept the gaps in the administrative reporting mechanism in almost all the states 38 districts (barring Munger where death figure did not change after the audit) and is bold enough to revise the death figure even at the cost of inviting criticism. The Health Department is in the process of identifying those who underreported. On June 11, Advocate General Lalit Kishore told the Patna High Court that departmental proceedings will be initiated against all those found responsible for underreporting Covid deaths. Family members of each of these 3951 Covid victims will be eligible to receive a relief of Rs Four lakh from the State Governmentas promised by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Covid deaths in Bihar have largely been recorded from five sources of information those dying under home isolation, at Covid Care Centres, District Covid Healthcare Centre, dedicated Covid hospitals and patients on way to a facility. Now, the role and performance officials responsible for surveillance and monitoring at each of these levels are being assessed to find out who failed in their job to verify deaths. The idea for a statewide death audit was set in motion after Patna High Court on May 17 pointed out certain discrepancies in the affidavits of Chief Secretary and Commissioner Patna Division about the deaths reported in Buxar district. The High Court asked the state government to verify all facts from all sources. ALSO READ | Rajasthan government to audit Covid-19 deaths in the state  Top Health Department sources say, a decision was subsequently made to verify deaths in all districtsand not keep it limited to Buxar---after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also insisted to this effect. The Chief Minister told the health Department to involve both medical officials and district authorities to dig out details and ensure no Covid death goes unreported. The results become visible within three weeks. On June 8, when Bihar Health Department released its daily Covid data, the final figure was 714,590 cases (involving the first and second Covid waves), 701,234 recovered, 5458 deaths and 7897 active cases with 98.13% recovery rate. A day later on June 9 when the department updated the figure after a massive verification drive, the numbers were changed. Now the reading had 715579 cases, 698,397 recovered, 9429 deaths and 7353 active cases. The addition of 3951 deaths, the states cumulative death figure shot up from 5458 to 9429 while the number of recoveries and the recovery rate per se, consequently, registered a small dip as well. Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey told India Today that the government had issued detailed instructions to district magistrates and civil surgeons, in addition to the directors of AIIMS-Patna and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) and also the other 10 dedicated Covid Hospitals to verify if any deaths taken place at their respective institutions or at the district-level had a Covid origin. Lauding the government for transparency, the Health Minister said, a death audit was ordered at a time media reports had been blaming various state governments for allegedly under-reporting of Covid deaths. There is no question of ruining our excellent record against Covid. Our government is determined to find out the exact number of Covid deaths and we are open to correcting our figure if evidence corroborates more Covid deaths than what has already been reported, said the Health Minister. The government wanted to have a complete clarity on the deaths at the panchayat and block level, district-wise, geographical area and region-wise. Now the updated death toll, the Health Minister says, would serve two purposes. One, it will allow us to help the families of Covid victims who deserve financial assistance. The second reason is a more strategic one. Collecting exact death figures would also enable us to prepare well, strengthen our medical response system for the future and also identify the gaps in the reporting system, said the minister. The death audit indeed was a massive exercise. As more than 239 government hospitals were allowed for Covid treatment at the peak of the second wave in Bihar, the district officials were told to cross-checking records and find out if any Covid death had gone unreported.Though the Covid Death audit is oversince the government is willing to accept anymore updates, there is now a brighter possibility that no Covid death can go unreported in Bihar. Thats the biggest takeaway indeed. Read India Today magazine by downloading the latest issue: https://www.indiatoday.com/emag