Panchkula deaths: Two with co-morbidities, one due to delay in admission

A 75-year-old woman from Shahpur who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Panchkula on July 24, passed away the day after that in a private hospital. The woman had reportedly been brought to Panchkula with severe respiratory issues almost three days before she passed away.

She was suffering from severe pneumonia, severe respiratory illness and was also plagued by hypertension and diabetes. After her conditioned worsened and reportedly on insistence from her family members, she was shifted to the private hospital where she passed away.

As per the district bulletin, this was recorded as the first Covid-19 related death in district. But another such death had been reported June end, when another 76-year-old woman had passed away after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

She was removed from the head of Covid-19 related deaths by the Panchkula authorities after they claimed to have ‘audited’ her death and found that she had become negative by the time she passed away.

In the second death recorded, a 58-year-old man suffering from multiple chronic diseases and paralysed, passed away on July 28.

The patient had been admitted to a private hospital of the city only three days prior to his death and his reports had tested positive from General Hospital, Ambala.

He was on ventilator and was suffering from Bilateral pneumonia.

In the third case, a 46-year-old man, a resident of a village in Barwala area passed away on August 4.
The man had reported to the civil hospital of Panchkula, Sector 6 with severe respiratory distress only a day before and was admitted to the hospital ICU. He tested positive posthumously.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed. Careful assessment of positive people and timely admissions of people at high risk in appropriate facility is the only way we can minimise deaths. People should help us in this by not pressurising for home isolation if not eligible,” said CMO Jasjeet Kaur, while talking about lower mortalities in the district.

Even though the fatality rate of Haryana has remained lower (1.2 per cent) than the national average of 2.1 per cent, the state has recorded a rise in the number of deaths being reported since the first phase of unlock was initiated. The point of worry has remained the death of patients with no co-morbidities.

As per a report, almost 33 per cent of Covid-19 related fatalities recorded included patients who had no co-morbidities. The reason being assessed for such deaths is late admissions of such cases to hospitals.