Death Audit Board formed to determine whether underlying cause of death is COVID-19

July 11: The rising number of deaths related to COVID-19 has now become a major cause of concern for the state health department. ICMR has issued a guideline which states that death of all COVID-19 patients should not be considered as COVID-19 deaths unless the person was primarily dying due to the virus. It is In this connection that ICMR has created a format that needs to be filled up while assessing the cause of death of a patient. As such, the State Health Department has constituted a ‘Death Audit Board’ that will decide if the death of a COVID-19 positive patient can be attributed to COVID-19 infection.

Director of Medical Education Dr Anup Kumar Barman will be at the helm of the newly formed ‘death audit board’. “Whether the underlying cause of death is due to COVID-19 or due to pre-existing co-morbidity will now be determined by this Death Audit Board,” asserted State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during a press briefing at Janata Bhavan in Guwahati on Saturday.

Infact, as per the data shared by the state health minister, Assam recorded a total of 35 COVID-19 related deaths. The minister also said that he will continue to share the death details in the future also, but the same may not be reflected in the official death tally of the state. Probably, this would be the reason, why the 2 deaths reported on Saturday were not included in the death tally as reflected in the tweet of the minister. It also needs mention that though till now 35 deaths due to novel coronavirus was reported yet it is not clear whether these would again be reviewed by the newly formed Death Audit Board.