Gurgaon: The MCG issued 2,467 death certificates in May, the highest so far this year, which is more than double the average number of death certificates it issued from January to April.
May also saw a spike in the official Covid toll to 343, the most lives claimed by the pandemic in the city since the outbreak.
But compared to the death certificates issued last month, the Covid toll accounts for just 14% of all deaths.
Asked about the gap, a senior official in the administration said, “These are the total number of deaths that have occurred over a period of time.
Covid alone cannot be the reason for all the deaths, right? The reason there is a huge gap between the number of certificates issued in the city and the Covid toll is that several of the deaths happened due to post-Covid complications.
These won’t count as Covid deaths.” The number of funerals had also shot up across crematoriums during the second wave of the pandemic.
Officials said many of those who died were admitted in Gurgaon hospitals but not residents of the city and hence the deaths would not show in the city’s Covid toll.
“The number of cremations in April and May were higher than the previous months.
However, we were cremating people from other cities too.
We cremated bodies irrespective of the cities since people from outside Gurgaon were also admitted to hospitals here and died of Covid-19,” said Paramjit Singh Oberoi, president of the Rambagh Shamshan Bhoomi Sudhar Samiti in Madanpuri.
Officials also pointed out that the number of deaths registered in May did not mean the deaths happened in May itself.
A death can be registered within 21 days, and officials insisted that many of the cases were from the previous month.
The city’s official Covid toll in April was 108.
The MCG had issued 1,026 death certificates in January, 1,094 in February, 1,312 in March and 995 in April.
“Yes, the highest number of deaths this year was registered in May.
But any family has 21 days to register a death.
So, the number of death certificates issued in a month would not give a correct picture of the number of deaths that month,” said Dr Ashish Singla, senior medical officer at MCG.