India News | Goa Govt Recorded Every COVID-19 Death: CM

Panaji, Jun 9 (PTI) With opposition parties in Goa seeking a probe into unreported COVID-19 deaths in some private hospitals, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said all such fatalities that occurred in the state were recorded by authorities.

The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had demanded the resignation of state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane after it came to light that private hospitals didn't report at least 67 COVID-19 fatalities from the period between August 2020 to May 2021. These deaths were added to the state's record on Monday evening.

“Even those deaths which occurred during the home isolation period have been registered and brought on record by the Health Department,” Sawant told reporters.

He said that even if someone is “brought in dead” in hospitals, COVID-19 tests are conducted on the body.

“The throat sample of the body is taken to ascertain whether it was COVID-19 related death. That is why Goa is one of the states which has recorded all COVID-19 deaths,” the CM said.

When asked about the action taken against the private hospitals that failed to report the COVID-19 fatalities, Sawant said a show-cause notice has been served on them under the state health Act. "They are at fault because they did not inform about the deaths to the government," he added.

As of Tuesday, Goa's COVID-19 tally stood at 1,60,284 and the death toll was 2,859, as per the state health department.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)