Form of words:
New Delhi: The central government has submitted “simplified” guidelines on which Covid-19 deaths would be eligible to issue an official document, three months after the Supreme Court ordered to do so. This official document can be used for seeking compensation under the Disaster Management Act.
The guidelines have been issued jointly by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on 8 September.
As per the guidelines, the COVID-19 cases diagnosed through RT-PCR, Rapid Antigen Test and other molecular tests (such as TrueNat and CBNAAT) will be counted, “medically determined through examination in a hospital/patient facility”. “.
Those COVID-19 deaths that occur within 30 days of the test “or from the date medically determined as a COVID-19 case, shall be treated as deaths due to Covid-19, even if the death is hospitalized.” happened outside. patient facility”. This is being done to be more “inclusive”, even though an ICMR study states that most of the Covid-19 deaths occur within 25 days of detection.
Covid-19 deaths occurring after 30 days will also be counted if the victim is admitted to a hospital or inpatient facility.
“A COVID-19 case, while admitted to an inpatient facility in a hospital, and which continued as a single admission for more than 30 days, and subsequently died, was referred to as a COVID-19 case. -19 will be treated as death,” the guidelines state.
However, deaths due to poisoning, suicide, homicide and accidents “will not be treated as COVID-19 deaths, even if COVID-19 co-occurs”.
If family members are dissatisfied with the cause of death, the guidelines direct states and union territories to inform a committee consisting of “Additional District Collector, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), Additional CMOH/Principal or Medical College of HOD Medicine. a subject matter expert”. All applications must be disposed of within 30 days of receipt.
Apart from addressing the grievances of the family, the committee has also been directed to “propose necessary remedial measures including issuance of revised official document for COVID-19 deaths after confirmation of facts as per these guidelines”.
Read also: Single vaccine 96.6%, 2 doses effective in preventing 97.5% of Covid deaths, finds ICMR
Supreme Court Rap
The Supreme Court last week pulled up the Center with a bench of Justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose. saying: “By the time you take more steps, the third wave will also be over. The order on death certificate, compensation etc. was passed long back.”
Supreme Court on 30 June Asked The National Disaster Management Authority laid out guidelines for recording Covid-19 deaths, and said compensation was “compulsory” under the Disaster Management Act.
Then on August 16, the court told the Center Four more weeks to comply With its orders to prepare guidelines for compensation and Covid-19 deaths.
(Edited by Shreyas Sharma)
Read also: Covid mortality in India likely to be 7-8 times higher than reported, finds study
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