Union Health ministry puts up comorbidity info on website, attributes 70% of total cases to it

MP | 7 May 2020 | Kolkata: Following the footsteps of the Bengal government, the Union Health ministry has started uploading information related to deaths due to comorbidity on its website while providing state-wise data. 

The ministry has stated that 70 per cent of the total number of deaths is due to comorbidity. This comes at a time when the Health ministry has repeatedly blamed the Bengal government for fudging data. 

Chandrima Bhattacharya, Minister of State for Health had said in a press conference held on Tuesday: "The state government was not hiding any data. In Bengal, 14 people out of 10 lakh have been infected and the death toll is three persons per 20 lakh people." 

The information of comorbidity on the ministry of Health's website has silenced the state BJP and CPI(M) leaders who have been accusing the state government of hiding the real picture so far as the death toll is concerned about taking out the co-morbid cases. 

Meanwhile, the Union Health ministry stated that the sudden rise in the number of death toll across the nation was because many states had corrected the data and sent it to them. 

However, it did not specify the states who did not give the actual data. 

Meanwhile, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a letter to state Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha stated: "West Bengal is characterized by a very low rate of testing in proportion to the population and a very high rate of mortality of 13.2 per cent for the state, by far the highest for any state. This is a reflection of poor surveillance, detection and testing." 

Reacting sharply, Dr Santanu Sen, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP, said: "Sending a letter full of misinformation by an officer in the rank of Union Home Secretary is most unfortunate." 

His allegation regarding testing of people is without any basis and the death toll given by him is a "blatant lie." 

"The Centre sent Rs 650 crore to throw petals but did not send the number of PPE kits as demanded by the state government," he remarked. While briefing the press on Wednesday, state Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said one-and-a-half-months ago, there was only one laboratory to test COVID-19 cases and the number of people tested on an average per day was 250. 

Now, there are 15 laboratories and the number of people tested on an average per day is 2500. He said the state government is keen on increasing the number of tests and it will help to identify the persons infected with the disease and make the treatment easier. On Wednesday, test per million population was 334. 

Bandyopadhyay further added that in Kolkata, the density of population is very high but despite that, the police have done a commendable job by clamping lockdown. Many police personnel have got infected in the process as well. 

Addressing the Union Home Secretary's take on the distribution of PPE kits, Bandyopadhyay said so far 16.5 lakh PPE kits have been distributed along with 29 lakh N-95 masks and 49.9 lakh regular masks. This has created a huge job opportunity in the MSME Sector. 

The Union Home Secretary's allegation that surveillance has not been properly done falls flat as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her Facebook page had stated on Tuesday that 5.75 crore plus households had been surveyed by 60,000 trained ASHA and health workers in the past four weeks.  

(Courtesy, source- http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/union-health-ministry-puts-up-comorbidity-info-on-website-attributes-70-of-total-cases-to-it-408404 )