'Doctor won't declare Covid death, committee will?' BJP hurls ethics claim at Mamata govt

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya on Monday alleged that the West Bengal government led by CM Mamata Banerjee has taken away the 'power' of the doctors treating Coronavirus. Malviya took to Twitter and shared an image of an order released by the West Bengal Health Department which states that the death of a COVID-19 patient would not be reported as death due to coronavirus till a committee decided. It will restrict the doctors who sign the death certificate from writing the reason, Malviya claimed. 

'Is this even legal or ethical?'

In a series of tweets, Malviya raised several questions on the order and wrote, "Since the Committee can’t sit for every death before a death certificate is issued, the treating doctor will be forced to write a reason other than COVID, even though the patient tested +ive. Is this even legal or ethical? Brazen attempt to under-report COVID related cases?"

Malviya said that unless COVID is mentioned as the reason, the family can’t be quarantined and neither can they claim compensation. He claimed that recently, an expert committee of doctors set up by CM herself mentioned the total number of deaths at 7, which her Chief Secretary marked down to 3. "Mamata is also the Health Minister," the BJP IT cell chief said.

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11 new COVID-19 cases were reported as of 6:00 PM on April 05 in Bengal, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This brings the total reported cases of coronavirus in Bengal to 80. Among the total people infected as on date, 10 have recovered and 3 have passed away. According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in the country has gone up to 3,577 as on Sunday. So far, 83 people have died of the coronavirus.

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