Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the government to adhere to guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) with regard to appropriate recording of COVID-19 related deaths in the State.
A bench of Justices M.S. Ramachandra Rao and K. Lakshman passed the interim order after hearing two PIL pleas requesting the court to instruct the government to collect samples from dead persons to ascertain if they died of COVID-19. Citing an instruction from Director of Public Health and Family Planning, the petitioners said the government decided not to conduct COVID-19 tests on dead persons.
Some persons, despite carrying the virus, do not show any symptoms of the virus. A person undergoing treatment for some ailment in a private of government hospital might contract coronavirus. In the event of that person’s death due to the virus, the doctors would not know that COVID-19 caused his or her death without conducting any diagnostic tests.
The government’s instruction not to collect samples for tests from dead persons would create a situation of the dead person’s primary and secondary contacts getting infected with the virus. This would eventually result in community spread, the petitioners professor P.L. Vishweshwar Rao and K.P. Rajender Kumar, retired District Medical and Health Officer, contended.
Advocate General B.S. Prasad and Assistant Solicitor General Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao sought time to secure instructions. The AG said ICMR guidelines did not mention about collection of samples from dead persons. The WHO guidelines too did not mandate such tests. Autopsies are were performed only in medico legal cases, he said.
If a person undergoing treatment dies in hospital, the doctor concerned would confirm cause of death. “But what if a person dies at home unaware that he or she contracted the virus. Cause of death in such instances need to be established to ensure the virus did not spread to that person’s family members,” the bench said.
The two petitions were posted to May 26 for next hearing.
