KOCHI: An analysis of admission and mortality in the nine hospitals empanelled under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY) in Kerala (among the top 25 such hospitals with the maximum number of beneficiary deaths in India), shows that 13,609 beneficiaries died in these hospitals.
Among them, 275 died of Covid, while the remaining 13,334 were beneficiaries treated for non-Covid diseases.
From January 2020-August 2021, of the 4,29,454 PMJAY beneficiaries admitted to these hospitals, only an estimated 2% were treated for Covid. In Kerala, 60 % of the population is covered under the scheme.
Incidentally, of the nine hospitals, six are government medical colleges that were designated as Covid hospitals, admitting only Covid patients, during the pandemic, raising questions about under-reporting of the total number of PM-JAY beneficiaries treated for Covid as well as Covid deaths in these hospitals. The analysis was done by Project-Jeevan Raksha, an initiative of Proxima with technical support from Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), based on the data gathered through an RTI query from National Health Authority (NHA) on the list of top 25 empanelled hospitals in which the maximum number of PM-JAY beneficiaries succumbed.
“As on September 1, Kerala had reported 40 lakh Covid cases. Assuming a minimum of 15% hospitalisation rate, nearly 6 lakh Covid positive patients should have been hospitalised of which 3.6 lakh admissions should have been from the PM-JAY category because nearly 60% of the state’s population is covered by PM-JAY. If we work backwards and calculate, it is clear that Kerala has under-reported nearly 2 million cases and 20,000 deaths,” said Mysore Sanjeev, convenor, Project-Jeevan Raksha.
There have been frequent allegations of underreporting of Covid deaths in Kerala. Recently, the health minister indicated that the death toll will be reviewed based on new guidelines issued by the Centre. The RTI reply shows that 44,700 PM-JAY beneficiaries have died so far while getting treatment in these 25 hospitals since the scheme was launched in 2019. Out of the 44,700 deaths, 19,441 deaths occurred in nine PM-JAY empanelled hospitals in Kerala.
Besides nine from Kerala, on the top 25 list are six empanelled hospitals from Chhattisgarh, four from Madhya Pradesh, three from Uttarakhand, one each from Chandigarh, Jharkhand and Gujarat. It is pertinent to note that NHA also informed that Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Assam were not disclosing deaths of PM-JAY beneficiaries with them.
However, health experts here said many Kerala hospitals figure in the list because the state is transparent with its data. “Data sampling is a very vital part of any study. Kerala doesn't hide or fudge statistics like several other states and we have utilised the PM-JAY funds for the targeted persons. Our health department has meticulously ensured flattening of the Covid curve but as immediate vaccination was not available, our people suffered,” said Dr R V Asokan, honorary secretary general, national Indian Medical Association (IMA).
