Telangana Congress has appealed to the Chief Secretary to constitute an apex-level committee to audit the death reports, including hospital medical treatment records, and arrive at the factual number of deaths.
At a press conference here on Friday, AICC spokesperson Sravan Dasoju said that the actual number will provide a basis for receiving financial relief from the Government of India as per the Supreme Court directions.
Mr. Sravan said that during the second wave, countless people died not only in hospitals, both public and private, but also at homes while taking self-treatment due to lack of access to beds in hospitals, oxygen and other life-saving drugs. But the government has claimed only 3,710 deaths so far.
He said the average number of deaths in GHMC limits for 2017, 2018 and 2019 was 55,791 whereas during 2020, deaths reported were 76,375, an increase of 73%. From January to June, 2021, the number of deaths reported is 50,548.
Similarly, the average number of deaths in the rest of Telangana for 2017, 2018, and 2019 was 45,220, whereas in 2020, the number increased to 79,827. This year from January to June, the number of deaths reported is 57,841.
The figures expose how the numbers were under-reported by the government, he said, and demanded compensation to all those needy spouses and orphaned children who lost their bread-earners to the virus. “The government should also issue a formal document wherein the cause of death for those who succumbed to COVID is stated as ‘Death due to COVID’,” he demanded.
