Maintaining that the State government was transparent in declaring COVID-19 deaths, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma. Subramanian on Tuesday said it would not hide the facts on the causes of the deaths.
Answering a question on the alleged under-reporting of patients who died of COVID-19 complications, the Minister said there was no need for the government to hide the facts on COVID-19 deaths. The Collectors had been given clear instructions not to hide deaths and their causes. Except for claiming government assistance for children orphaned by the pandemic, the certificates [being given to the relatives of COVID-19 victims] would be of no use, he said.
Mr. Subramanian said the patients being admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms would generally test negative for the virus after seven days. Some patients, who remained in hospitals with co-morbidities, died due to other complications. They were given death memos as per ICMR norms, he added.
The Minister said a survey for identifying children orphaned by COVID-19 had been undertaken in all districts, adding that more than 100 such children had been identified so far.
He said the State had so far received 1.1 crore doses of vaccines from the Centre. Of this, 1.05 crore doses had been administered. The State received a fresh consignment of 6.16 lakh doses on Tuesday, he noted.
He said 77 patients, diagnosed with mucormycosis, had succumbed to the disease since the start of the second wave. He said 1,736 patients had been affected by the fungal infection so far. Of the 45,000 vials of amphotericin — a medicine used for treating mucormycosis patients — sought from the Centre, the State had received 11,796, of which 4,266 had been used, he added.
On special camps
The Minister clarified that the State government opted for special COVID-19 vaccination camps only to ensure that everyone gets inoculated.
He was replying to mediapersons at the Thanjavur Collectorate, when asked for the reason behind decentralisation and adoption of the “first-come-first-served” method without prior registration for vaccination.