Issue white paper on COVID deaths in Telangana: Congress to KCR

Congress on Sunday asked the Telangana government to issue a White Paper on COVID deaths and compensation awarded to the next of their kins.

"TRS government has suppressed the figures of deaths due to Coronavirus. As per official figures, a total of 6,80,553 people were infected with the virus and 4,021 lost their lives as of December 25, 2021. But the toll is much higher than the official figure. The state government has started receiving applications for compensation of Rs 50,000 announced by the central government. However, it did not make any attempts to cover all the families who lost their loved ones due to COVID-19," said Hyderabad City Congress Committee (HCCC) Minorities Department Chairman Sameer Waliullah.

Sameer Waliullah pointed out that the authorities were taking into account only the deaths that occurred in hospitals. "There were several cases wherein patients died on the way to hospitals or at the entrance of hospitals due to denial of admission. Many deaths that occurred at home or in remote villages were also not recorded. In many cases, the hospital authorities did not mention COVID as the cause of death in the death certificates. Instead, they mentioned 'pulmonary arrest' or 'pulmonary cardiac arrest' as the cause of death. The state government should frame new guidelines to include all such deaths as COVID deaths so as to help the families of the victim," he said.