NAGPUR: Of the 5,573 Covid19 deaths recorded in Nagpur till Thursday, 893 are of people not residents of
Nagpur district. This is more than 16% of the total death toll. Deaths listed under the ‘other’ category has pushed up the case fatality rate to 2.14%. Minus the other patients, it would have been 1.80%.
Moreover, the fatality rate of such patients is more than 83%. More alarming is that 90% of them died the day they reached Nagpur or within 48 hours of their admission.
Who are the ‘others’? Patients referred in a critical condition from neighbouring states and even other parts of Maharashtra who test positive for Covid-19 after coming to Nagpur are counted in this category.
Being a medical hub of central India, Nagpur receives patients not only from entire Vidarbha and Marathwada region, but also from adjacent states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. A large number of patients come to Nagpur from MP and Chhattisgarh every day.
As per official data, 1,075 such patients have been reported in Nagpur so far — less than 0.5% of the total 2.59 lakh cases in the district. Significantly, 893 of them have not survived.
The data conveys that the other patients are brought in a serious condition and die during treatment. Doctors who have been treating such patients said that they either get infected during treatment or already have the Covid-19 infection but are reaching untested to the city.
“Being a tertiary healthcare centre, GMCH receives hundreds of patients from neighbouring states everyday,” said Dr Avinash Gawande, the medical superintendent.
According to Dr Gawande, many come in very critical condition after being referred to Nagpur by the local private or government hospitals. As per protocol, their Covid-19 test is done here.
Mayo Hospital also receives many patients from MP and Chhattisgarh. Many private and trust-run hospitals are also admitting a large number of patients from across the Central India region.
A leading heart specialist from Nagpur, who is also a director of a private multi-speciality hospital said that patients avoid Covid-19 tests in their home state.
“Many patients from MP and Chhattisgarh reach Nagpur for treatment of non-Covid ailments. On coming to Nagpur, we conduct their Covid-19 test. Most of them test positive. Testing is not followed in neighbouring states as strictly as in Maharashtra,” he said.
As these patients avoid Covid-19 tests, they don’t get medication and treatment for the virus in their home districts.
As a result, they are already in a serious condition on reaching Nagpur making it very difficult for the doctors to provide treatment.