Govt discloses 6 long-pending COVID-19 deaths in Bengaluru

The state government finally disclosed the deaths of six COVID-19 patients in the city, though they died a few days ago and had already been cremated or buried.

The disclosures were made following an analysis by DH of the COVID-19 data released by the Department of Health and Family Welfare. Five of the patients appeared in a BBMP database as “deceased” but had not been listed so by the department.

Revealing the discrepancies to DH, Dr Thrilok Chandra, head of the Critical Care Support Unit, said an internal enquiry is being conducted in this regard. The matter was published in the Thursday edition of the newspaper.

DH had authenticated several of the deaths following information from COVID-19 staff members, backend data from the BBMP database, a patient information chart released by the office of the District Commissioner (Bengaluru Urban), and in two cases, acquaintances of the deceased.

The six deaths are of Patient 3912, a 57-year-old man and returnee from Bihar who died on June 6; Patient 5340, a 58-year-old man who had come to the city from Ballari to visit his mother and died on June 13; Patient 6004, a 39-year-old car driver who died on June 14; Patient 6027, a 40-year-old woman from Padarayanapura who died hours after being admitted to Victoria Hospital on June 8.

The last two fatalities are Patient 7183, a 74-year-old woman with diabetes and hypertension who died on June 15 and Patient 6570, a 68-year-old man who died on June 13.