Bathinda deaths up fivefold in 3 weeks

Sameer Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 16

While the district Health Department and administration claim to have taken requisite measures to reduce mortality and positivity rates by scaling up testing and expediting vaccination, the reality on ground paints a completely different picture.

As per records of the department, the district has seen a five-fold increase in the mortality rate, while fresh cases have almost doubled in the past three weeks, i.e. since April 25. The data suggests as many as 329 patients have succumbed to the virus in the past three weeks alone in the district and more than 14,750 fresh cases have been reported during the period.

With only 59 deaths being reported till April 25, there has been a fivefold jump in the mortality rate. There were 17,926 positive cases in the district as on April 25, following which a spike was witnessed, taking the tally to 32,676.

A senior health official said: “Although the recovery rate in the district is quite high, a sudden spike in the mortality rate has put the department and senior administration officials under a lot of stress. As many as 329 deaths in three weeks for a small city is certainly a cause for concern.”

“At a time when the medical infrastructure at government-run hospitals remains dismal and patients are being forced to spend lakhs of rupees on treatment at private hospitals, the worries of the Health Department are only going to mount.

“Amid reports of private hospitals charging exorbitant sums from patients despite a price cap on treatment, both the administration and department have been mute spectators to gross neglect. It is time they set their house in order before things go haywire,” said the official.