Coronavirus | Fatality rate in Ujjain at 14.28%

Officials in the city scrambling to shore up crumbling health infrastructure

Helping hands: People receiving food packets from volunteers in Bhopal on Tuesday.

Madhya Pradesh reported 87 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the tally to 2,387. On the day, seven deaths were reported across the State.

However, a cause of concern is the fatality rate in Ujjain, a neighbouring district of Indore, which shot to 14.28% on Monday, arguably the worst in the country.

The rate is even higher than that of Ahmedabad, Mumbai and New Delhi, which have recorded more than 20 times the cases found in Ujjain.

Faced with spiralling mortalities, Ujjain officials are scrambling to shore up a crumbling health infrastructure in the city, where all is dependent on just one private medical college. Even patients from neighbouring Agar Malwa and Ratlam districts are treated there. The hospital’s senior management has gone into quarantine; several staff members refuse to attend to duties and patients complain of bad quality of food and lack of proper treatment.

Just four of the 17 deaths until April 27 occurred on the hospital’s beds, while rest could not even reach in time. “Around eight could not wait to see their test results,” said Additional Collector Sujan Singh Rawat.

The case fatality rate for Indore, where it had touched 10% around mid-April, dropped to 4.6% on Monday. On the same day, it was 1.7% in New Delhi, 3.3% in Surat, 3.7% in Mumbai, 5% in Ahmedabad and 7.3% in Pune. The rate is a measure of disease severity which records the proportion of those who die from a disease among all those diagnosed.

The administration received complaints of improper treatment at the Ujjain hospital, said H.P. Sonaniya, district COVID-19 nodal officer. “Those in isolation wards have been complaining too,” he added.

The government has set up CCTV cameras in wards to keep an eye on the treatment. “The main issue was food, which we have resolved now,” he said.

Majority of class-4 employees, including sweepers, had stopped coming for duty fearing infection. The hospital’s director and its medical superintendent, who was ill, and the attached college’s dean, all went into quarantine. “We have given the hospital additional staff of 11 workers. Those who were not returning to duty have been asked to come back. Nine have already returned,” added Mr. Rawat.

The State suspects that the outbreak in Ujjain had occurred owing to carriers who returned from Indore.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh reported 87 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the tally to 2,387, according to officials. On the day, seven deaths owing to the virus were reported across the State.