NMC issued highest ever 7.5k death certificates in April this year

Nagpur: There has been a whopping 394.76% increase in the number of death certificates issued by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) in April this year as compared to 2020. Last year, NMC issued 1,527 death certificates in April, and in the corresponding month this year the figure was 7,555 (a rise of 6,028 deaths). The steep rise is largely attributed to the fatalities during the second Covid wave.
“Probably, it was the first time in NMC’s history that it issued such a huge number of death certificates in any month,” said a senior NMC official from the birth and death registration department.
Statistics also revealed a 122% increase in issuance of death certificates in the first five months of this calendar year. Against 9,968 death certificates issued from January 2020 to May 2020, the NMC issued 22,156 certificates in the corresponding period this year. “There are many who haven’t yet applied for a certificate and the actual number of deaths could be much higher than NMC records suggest,” an official said.
Statistics procured from the department revealed that in April 2020 the number of deaths in the city had declined as compared to 2019. In 2019, the NMC had issued 2,159 death certificates, while it was 1,527 last year.
The data revealed that in 2019, the NMC’s birth and death registration department issued 29,426 death certificates, while in 2020 it issued 31,651 certificates.
In 2019, the average number of death certificates issued per month were 2,400. The department issued the highest number of certificates in January and February, at 2,848 and 2,743 respectively.
In September 2020, when the city was reeling under the first Covid-19 wave NMC issued 5,006 death certificates, while at 1,399, the lowest number of certificates were issued in May 2020, the data revealed.
In January, October and December 2020 too, the department issued 3,027, 3,817 and 3,306 death certificates respectively.
In the first five months of 2021, the department issued 22,156 death certificates. Apart from 7,555 certificates issued in April, the birth and death registration department has also issued the second highest number of certificates in May at 6,892. So far in 2021, NMC has issued the fewest death certificates in February at 2,304.