HC asks AMC why covid death rates are high in Amravati

Nagpur Updates June 10, 2020

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Nagpur:- Expressing concern over high mortality rates caused by a novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in Amravati, the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench on Tuesday directed Amravati Municipal Corporation (AMC) to file an affidavit detailing all 17 deaths categorized as COVID casualties so far.

“We find the mortality rate is high. The corporation should provide details of all 17 deaths, including hospital names (private and government) in which the patients were admitted, “said a division bench consisting of Justice Ravi Deshpande and Justice Amit Borkar.

Before adjourning the hearing until June 12, the bench further asked the AMC to file an affidavit stating the steps taken to prevent the deadly disease from spreading through the community.

While hearing a petition by Shivaray Kulkarni, the HC directives came through counsel Pankaj Navlani, pressing for stringent measures to control the exponential growth of mortal virus spread in Amravati.

Earlier, Jemini Kasat appearing for the corporation informed that out of 264 cases involving Covid-19, 146 had recovered. Of these, 101 are still active, while 17 have so far succumbed to the illness.

He further told that four out of the 17 deaths were not admitted to any of the hospitals but expired in their homes. Some of the patients had been admitted to private hospitals but then transferred to the government hospital, he said.

Counsel for the petitioner contended that blunders in Amravati are costing human lives on the part of various administrative authorities. He also called for the creation of an expert panel to carry out war-based research.

Contending that a specific pattern of virus spread is being observed in Amravati, Navlani said that aggressive testing on the lines of Bhilwara in Rajasthan, which had been effective in curbing the spread of COVID, is urgently needed. He also believed respondents had failed to track down the city’s source of infection.

“In one week, the Bhilwara administration aggressively tested 25-30 lakh people, and in complete contrast to that RT-PCR testing in Amravati is comparatively far less. As a result, the number of successful patients has skyrocketed exponentially.

In the earlier hearing, the HC had directed AMC and collector to file an affidavit explaining why all high-risk contacts had not been tested and fixing the failure ‘s accountability. It also asked the AMC and other authorities to explore Amravati-based implementation of the Bhilwara pattern to contain coronavirus spread.

What Says the Appeal