Big spike in May death certificates in Noida, 1,460 issued in 1st fortnight

NOIDA: From May 1-15, the Noida administration has issued 1,460 death certificates, the highest this year and more than twice the number issued in April.
Death certificates issued in the first fortnight of May, in fact, make up nearly 40% of the total number issued this year.
The total number of death certificates issued from January to May 15 is 3,802 – 678 in January, 485 in February, 496 in March and 683 in April, data from the Gautam Budh Nagar health department shows.
The big spike coincides with the second wave of the pandemic, which has seen the official death toll from Covid rise sharply in May. TOI had reported on May 18 that of the 392 deaths Noida had seen from the beginning of the outbreak to May 16, 180 were reported between May 1 and May 16.
Death certificates, however, are a single number, a sum total of deaths due to Covid, any other disease and natural or unnatural causes during a particular period. Senior administration officials said there were several factors why the May numbers were high. Many of the death certificates issued, they argued, were of people who were not residents of the city but had come here for treatment.
“Gautam Budh Nagar has numerous tertiary care facilities for both Covid and non-Covid treatment,” chief medical officer Dr Deepak Ohri told TOI. “In fact, almost 80% of ICUs/tertiary care facilities are occupied by residents belonging to other districts and states. Therefore, this number (of death certificates) includes residents from all over the country.” The official tally of Covid deaths only takes into account those who live in Gautam Budh Nagar.
Admitting there may be a difference between the official Covid toll – 121 for April and 190 for May (till May 19), and Covid-related deaths the district has seen, a senior administration official added, “There have been instances of deaths occuring of those with Covid-like symptoms who, however, tested negative. Or those who did not get a chance to be tested. Those numbers are not added in the official tally.” As of May 19, the district’s official Covid toll was 402.
Ohri also said bunching of applications could be another reason why the death certificate numbers issued in May had risen sharply. He said it was taking three to five weeks for a death certificate to be issued. This would indicate the numbers in May pertain to April when the official Covid toll was lower than what the district has reported in May so far.
Asked about this, Ohri cited the example of Saini village, which reports said had witnessed 25 deaths. “However, when an investigation was carried out after the CM’s visit, the total number of deaths was found to be 17 and of them, one each pertained to Delhi and Ghaziabad,” said Ohri. “The actual number of deaths of Saini residents was 15; the number of Covid deaths in that, five or six. The rest died from other causes, while those who had complained of cough and cold had not been tested. So, they were not counted as Covid deaths,” he added.
The 1,460 death certificates issued from May 1-15 are only for Noida. For deaths that occur in other parts of Gautam Budh Nagar – Greater Noida, Jewar, Dadri and Dankaur – certificates are issued by different authorities entrusted with the job, like GNIDA and Nagar Palika, said KK Bhaskar, the registrar responsible for issuing death certificates. In Noida, a death certificate is issued by the registrar, based on a certificate submitted by a hospital, village head, councillor, MLA or MP.
Covid deaths are not counted separately for Noida. The official toll includes deaths in all of Gautam Budh Nagar.