No lag in reporting COVID deaths: Veena

Minister says Centre’s comment unfortunate

Health Minister Veena George has termed unfortunate a purported comment by the Centre that Kerala had not been transparent about declaring COVID-19 deathsTalking to the media here on Friday, Ms. George said Kerala was the only State which took the Supreme Court’s directive on paying compensation to the kin of those who died of COVID in letter and spirit. The State government had taken the stand that none who lost their loved ones to COVID should be denied an opportunity to receive ex gratia payment. After the Indian Council of Medical Research revised the definition of what constitutes a COVID death, all attempts were made to include every death on the list of fatalities and people were encouraged to file appeals . The State had maintained utmost transparency in undertaking a death reconciliation exercise and that Kerala was the only State to do so.She said the Supreme Court had appreciatedthe manner in which Kerala had reported all deathbacklog . Kerala had requested the Centre to organise a discussion with States on the death reconciliation exercise, she added.There was no lag in reporting COVID deaths in the State now. An online system has been put in place in hospitals and the software has been tweaked appropriately so that all deaths have to be reported necessarily within a week of it happening, she said.