Odisha Govt Fails To Convince HC On COVID Death Figures; Next Hearing On Oct 7 With Fresh Affidavit

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has expressed dissatisfaction over the affidavit submitted by the Odisha government on the COVID-19 death figures in the state and termed the reports as ‘inadequate’.

“The manner in which the death statistic was arrived at and the period covered is not clear,” the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray observed on Tuesday.

In the supplementary affidavit on the issue of discrepancies in the audited deaths due to the deadly disease during the second wave, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) P K Mohapatra said that 8022 people had succumbed till August 31.

The bench expressed doubts over these latest death figures as the government had put the toll at 4925 till July 15 in its earlier affidavit. It also observed that the affidavit is silent on the deaths during the corresponding period in other districts. “The figures indicated relate to only April-may 2021. What about the other months?” it questioned.

The bench has asked the Health Secretary to clarify as to whether the death position submitted relates to the entire period of the pandemic and file a detailed supplementary affidavit by October 4. The department has been asked about the manner in which it proposes to gather health data or the methodology specific to determining COVID-19 deaths.

The next hearing has been posted for October 7.

THE AFFIDAVIT

The government had stated that scrutiny of the primary cause of death and final reporting of COVID deaths slowed down during the months of May, June and July when the cases were soaring and doctors in the hospitals were busy saving the lives of patients.

.The reporting of 4,925 deaths as of July 15, 2021, is the number of updated scrutinised data pending the final decision on the true total number of deaths as some deaths were pending scrutinisation and reporting, the affidavit said.

After the severity of the pandemic declined significantly during the second half of July and August, the scrutiny of all the backlog records of the patients who died was expedited to find the primary cause of death. The COVID-19 deaths were ascertained to be 8,022 in the State till August 30, it added.