The Tamil Nadu government has been transparent in reporting COVID-19 deaths and no one can hide information, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Thursday, rejecting claims of under-reporting of fatalities. He also asserted there was no community transmission of coronavirus in the state, which has reported 1,500-plus cases for four successive days till Wednesday with the tally crossing the 36,000-mark.
"What is the difference in death toll? We collect deaths from government hospitals. Private hospitals give their tally. Why should we hide the data? No one can hide deaths. How can we reduce the death toll? If someone dies of coronavirus, everyone comes to know. There is nothing to hide as far as Covid-19 deaths are concerned," he said.
The mismatch in the number of deaths came to light on Tuesday after officials from the Directorate of Public Health reportedly visited the Greater Chennai Corporation office and found the death register noting more than 200 unaccounted fatalities in the department's tally. The department decided to form a committee to probe the case and reconcile the issue, but health officials and Palaniswami have asserted that it was not a case of deliberate misreporting.
The government's 'reconciliation committee' comprises doctors from the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services and Directorate of Medical Education and the city corporation and will look into the question of alleged discrepancies in deaths.
The reconciliation initiative was taken up by the government also in the wake of a complaint by an NGO to authorities claiming that three COVID-19 deaths were not recorded.
A senior officer from the Public health department told News18, "We anticipate there is a mismatch in the death counts We have constituted a reconciliation committee to look into this."
Sources from the Corporation said delayed notification could be one of the reasons for the mismatch.
Several sources from the health department News18 spoke to confirmed there are discrepancies in the death count but there is no clarity on whether it could cross the 200-mark. More than 20 deaths at Perambur Railway Hospital were allegedly not included on the state's medical bulletin.
Palaniswami on Thursday said the department was issuing a COVID-19 bulletin on a daily basis furnishing data on aspects including testing, recoveries, active cases and deaths.
The data on fatalities reflected deaths from both government and private hospitals, he said during the media interaction after inaugurating infrastructure projects, including a bridge named after late Chief Minister J Jayalalaithaa. Also, he wondered how was it even possible to under-count deaths and project it on a lower side.
"How it (deaths) could be shown less? if somebody dies of COVID-19, the media shows (visuals) and people come to know. This cannot be hidden. For the government, it serves no good (purpose) by hiding deaths," he said.
Palaniswami reiterated there was no community transmission of the deadly virus in Tamil Nadu and maintained the spread was through contacts. Population density, congested neighbourhoods were among the reasons for the high number of cases in Chennai, he said.
The capital city remains the hotspot of the virus spread with 25,937 cases out of the state's tally of 36,841 as of Wednesday.
(With inputs from PTI)
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