Thiruvanthapuram: The Kerala Health Department's claim that all COVID-19 related deaths are included in the official death toll of the state seems to be flawed. The discrepancy in the health department's claim may be seen in the state government's COVID dashboard.
The cause of death of 51 people, who succumbed to COVID-19, have been mentioned as cancer and other illnesses. The official death toll of the state is currently 156. Click here to view all COVID-19 death related statistics.
This is against the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
The department had stated that the two deaths each in Kozhikode and Pathanamthitta on July 24 and 27 respectively were due to cancer. But the over 40 deaths after have been reported a non-COVID ones but the 'reason' or causative illness have not been mentioned. Health Minister KK Shailaja had recently stated that even those who died of comorbidities were included in the list of COVID deaths.
The WHO and the ICMR had asked health authorities to include deaths due to comorbidities on the COVID death list. The Kerala government had adhered to this guideline initially. After July 20, this pattern changed.
A government-appointed committee had said that the deviation from guidelines could be harmful. The government stance was that it was not mandated to implement all recommendations of the expert committee.
