Mamata govt directs Bengal's COVID hospitals to issue death certificates as per ICMR rules

Amid criticism of mismanagement of COVID crisis, Mamata Banerjee-government in West Bengal has advised all COVID-19 hospitals in the state to issue death certificates according to the guidelines set by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The department also advised the hospitals that "before putting hypoxic patients on ventilators, high flow nasal oxygen therapy should be tried as per the guideline". The move would cut down on the use of mechanical ventilators amid the surge in coronavirus cases, a senior official of the health department said.

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If that does not help, patients should be put on conventional ventilators, the official added. "With the number of COVID-19 cases soaring every day, we have to have ICUs and ventilators ready for patients at all times. But the number of ventilators the state has at the moment is not enough to support them all," he said. West Bengal currently has 395 ventilators and 948 ICU beds in its COVID-19 hospitals, according to state health department data.

"In cases, where the doctors suspect that the patient has a 'secondary bacterial infection', the (blood) culture should be sent for examination and he or she should be put under mechanical ventilation," the advisory stated.

The department also said that "super-speciality teams should be available for appropriate advice in relevant cases". It has also warned against "indiscriminate use" of antibiotics for bacterial infections. "Since COVID-19 is a viral infection, justification for prescribing antibiotics must be documented...We need to avoid indiscriminate and prolonged (use of antibiotics) as experience shows that it may cause harm in many cases," the advisory said.

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Plasma bank in West Bengal

A plasma bank for treating COVID-19 patients has been set up at Kolkata Medical College and Hospital (KMCH), the first of its kind in West Bengal. So far, around 12 people who have recovered from COVID-19 have donated their plasma in the state to help in the treatment of coronavirus infected people. "The state health department has built a plasma bank at the Kolkata Medical College and Hospital's Immunohematology department for COVID-19 treatment," Banerjee said at the state secretariat on Monday.

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West Bengal COVID-19 tally

The death toll due to COVID-19 in West Bengal mounted to 779 on Monday with the highest one-day spike of 22 fatalities.The total infection tally in the state is at 22,987. The number of active patients rose to 6,973, it said. A total of 524 people have been discharged from different hospitals since Sunday evening. During the same period, 10,919 samples have been examined for COVID-19, the bulletin added.

(With PTI inputs)

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