Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday questioned the discrepancy between the Gujarat government’s official COVID-19 death numbers and bodies cremated following COVID-19 protocol.
In a series of tweets, the Congress leader reacted to The Hindu report and mocked the “Gujarat model”.
“While Gujarat officially reported 78 COVID-caused deaths on Friday (April 16), The Hindu reported that 689 bodies were cremated in 7 cities alone following the Covid protocol. Covid-caused deaths are being mis-reported as caused by cardiac arrest, chronic diabetes etc. That is the Gujarat model!” the former Finance Minister tweeted.
On Monday, The Hindu published a special report about the data mismatch between the Health Department and those emerging from cremation and burial grounds.
The report also mentioned cases in which hospitals had mentioned the cause of death of coronavirus positive patients as “cardiac arrest” and “kidney failure”.