Did Kejriwal hide coronavirus deaths? Report claims shocking difference between Delhi govt and hospital data

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has caught itself in a controversy after reports of a big difference between the coronavirus death toll of the Delhi government and hospitals. According to a report published by the Indian Express, the number of coronavirus deaths reported by Lok Nayak Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College and the Delhi and Jhajjar centres of AIIMS stand at 116, while Delhi govt reported only 66 deaths until Thursday night.

According to the Delhi government, these hospitals reported only 33 deaths while data from the five hospitals showed 116 casualties. As per the state health department,  Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital recorded 26 deaths until Thursday night. However, according to the hospital data, the number of coronavirus deaths stood at 52.

Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh didn't respond when International Business Times, India sought his response to the report of discrepancy in the number of COVID-19 deaths. However, a spokesperson from Arvind Kejriwal's party told the English daily that "there is an audit committee of doctors that investigates every death incident reported by COVID hospitals and ensures that every death is reported."

RML hospital says govt 'data wrong, informed many times'

RML Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Minakshi Bharadwaj said that they have informed the Arvind Kejriwal government many times but they have not corrected the numbers. She even claimed that the total number of coronavirus positive cases shown by the government was also incorrect.

"We are regularly giving our data to the Delhi government. We don't know why incorrect data is reflected. Even the total number of Covid-19 positive cases is incorrect. We have informed them many times but the number is still not corrected," the Indian Express quoted her as saying.

Delhi is among the worst-hit regions in the country. According to the Delhi government data until Thursday night, the national capital has 5,980 coronavirus positive cases and 66 deaths. The mortality rate in Delhi's coronavirus cases stood at 1.1 per cent.