Delhi: Corporations and government spar over coronavirus death toll

NEW DELHI: The corporations have claimed that they have followed the protocol and precautionary standard operating procedure laid down for coronavirus cases in the cremation and burial of 341 bodies received between March 14 and May 10. This includes both confirmed and suspected cases of Covid-19. The last rites were conducted at Nigambodh Ghat and Punjabi Bagh cremation grounds and Jadeed kabristan near Ferozeshah Kotla and Madanpur Khadar burial grounds.
Delhi government has officially announced only 86 Covid-19 deaths till today. It had earlier asked hospitals to submit death summaries in all cases to enable the death audit committee to determine if the death was indeed due to novel coronavirus. The delay could partly explain this discrepancy.
But senior functionaries of the BJP-led corporations are highlighting the wide gap between their figure and that of the Delhi government. A senior Delhi government functionary explained that the government had allowed cremation and burial under the Covid-19 protocol of even those patients who had flu-like symptoms. However, these may not have tested positive for the virus later. “That’s why there is a difference in the number of deaths reported by the municipal corporations…and the official death toll due to Covid-19,” said the functionary.
In the past three months, 249 Covid-19 patients and those suspected to be infected by the virus have been cremated at Nigambodh Ghat and Punjabi Bagh cremation grounds, the Covid-19 designated facilities where CNG furnaces are used for the last rites. Ninety-two more bodies have been buried at the burial grounds located near Ferozeshah Kotla and Madanpur Khadar.
Jai Prakash, standing committee chairperson of the north corporation — the municipal body which oversees Nigambodh Ghat — said that that 153 such bodies have been cremated there with a steep hike between March and April. “We had received only two such bodies in March, 81 in April and 70 in the first 10 days of May,” he said.
If figures from the Punjabi Bagh crematorium and Kotla and Madanpur Khadar burial grounds are added, the average daily count of bodies laid to rest with Covid-19 related protocols has gone up by four times between April and first ten days of May. Data shows that while 141 such bodies were laid to rest during the thirty days of April, 198 bodies were received in the first ten days of May. This is an average increase from five bodies a day last month to 20 bodies per day in May.
Bhupendra Gupta, SDMC’s standing committee chairman, said a similar increase has been noticed at Punjabi Bagh too. While 29 bodies were laid to rest in Punjabi Bagh in April, the civic body has already received 67 bodies in the first 10 days of May. Gupta said that one body has been buried in Madanpur Khadar and 91 at Kotla while 96 cases were received at Punjabi Bagh. “If only south corporation has processed so many cases, the entire Delhi has a much larger number of Covid deaths,” he observed.
Municipal officials explained that as per protocol, the staff members of the hospital come along with the hearse van and give instructions on which bodies need to be handled with Covid-19- related precautions. “In a few cases, the corona test results come a few days later. But if the patients were showing symptoms related to Covid-19, the same precautionary protocol is followed to prevent any infection,” he added.
Senior public health officials from the south corporation argued that the current crisis should be used to develop more CNG-based crematoria. “These will be assets in future and will help in reducing pollution,” said an official.