MARGAO
Even as 68 unreported Covid related deaths raised many an eyebrow, doctors at the Hospicio and the South Goa District hospital maintained that none of these deceased patients were admitted to the district hospital for Covid treatment.
In fact, senior doctors claimed that all the 68 were brought dead to the Hospicio or the district hospital mortuary, including a number of beggars and unknown people. And, they had turned out Covid positive only when their swabs were collected at the hospital mortuary.
“Most of these 68 deaths are medico-legal cases. These people did not undergo any treatment at the South Goa district hospital, but were brought dead by the police in many cases. Post mortem examinations were not taking place during the Covid pandemic, but officials manning the mortuary were collecting swabs from the dead. Unlike now, the Covid testing reports used to come after some days. Those days, doctors and the health care workers were all busy looking after the patients fighting the infection in hospital”, maintained a doctor.
Another senior doctor, who had manned the district hospital, pointed out that the 68 Covid deaths reported by the authorities did not take place at the SGDH. “They were brought dead to old Hospicio hospital and directly to the mortuary. SGDH did not handle these cases”, the official said.
The official added: “Till Thursday morning, 594 deaths have taken place at the SGDH. The statistics released by the authorities say that deaths reported are from August 2020 to June 2021. How is this possible when the SGDH had started operations from September 19, 2020”?
The official said the state authorities should have reported as DHS deaths and not SGDH deaths as it would only create a wrong impression in the minds of the public about SGDH.
Officials manning the SGDH mortuary pointed out that 68 persons were all brought dead to the mortuary from various parts of the district. “SGDH was one of the three hospitals in the country, which had started testing swabs of persons brought dead during the second wave of COVID pandemic. We had maintained a separate record book pertaining to the persons, who had tested positive after being brought dead at the mortuary”, informed the official.
The official added: “A separate record book was maintained of the people who were brought dead, but later were confirmed Covid positive. These records will now help the kith and kin to claim Covid compensation from the government”.
