West Bengal recorded 1,20,227 excess deaths, 11.1 times the official Covid-19 toll of 10,787 between April 2020 and May 2021, according to the Civil Registration System (CRS).
As on July 25, 2021, the total number of Covid-19 deaths for all 23 districts was 18,073.
While all excess deaths are not due to Covid-19 but most of them are expected to be linked to the disease during the pandemic. Health activist and member of the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum (WBDF) Dr Punyabrata Gun told News18, “It is true that not all excess deaths could be considered as COVID-19 related but we are assuming that most of the deaths happened due to COVID-19 because during that period we all were struggling with the pandemic situation. Then, the number of deaths also increased. Most of the unreported cases took place in rural areas of Bengal due to lack of infrastructure.”
According to experts, the huge gap in the figures could be due to lack of proper testing. “We have noticed that during the first and second wave there was an inadequate testing facility in the state…mainly in rural Bengal. This led to many undetected Covid cases and deaths. This could be the key reason behind such a huge gap in the statistics,” Gun said.
The excess deaths were calculated based on the difference between the registered Covid- 19 only deaths during first and second wave and the average number of deaths (due to accidents, suicides, murders) registered for the same months, he added.
Statistics further showed that there was a nine-time jump in the toll from 6,830 to 64,000 between April and December 2020.
Similarly, from April to December 2021, the CSR findings showed almost 14 times’ increase in the state government’s figure of 10,787.
During the Assembly election nearly 51,300 excess deaths were reported from April-May, 2021, which is again almost 14 times higher than the government’s figure of nearly 5,200 deaths.
Trinamool Congress MP and former President of the Indian Medical Association, Santanu Sen, TMC MLA and Dr Nirmal Majhi and State Health and Family Welfare Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya were reached out for their comment but were not available.
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya called the revelation “serious” and said the matter should be thoroughly looked into. “The state government is lacking behind in everything and it is unfortunate that the people of Bengal are suffering a lot.”
The CRS works under the Birth and Death Registration Department, which is headed by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner in India. However, implementation of the statute is vested with the state governments.
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