Arushi Bidhuri
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Written By: Arushi Bidhuri | Published : May 8, 2022 2:31 PM IST
While speculations over the total death toll in India have been a matter of debate, the "excess mortality" figures recently released by the World Health Organization (WHO) have raised several questions. Two days after WHO estimated 47 lakh COVID deaths in India, officials called it false data and unhappiness with WHO modelling.
As per reports, health ministers in several states have unanimously slammed the World Health Organization (WHO) for its estimate of 47 lakh additional deaths directly or indirectly linked to the COVID-19 pandemic in India in 2020 and 2021, calling it "unacceptable" and based on a "flawed mathematical assumption."
The WHO estimates are nearly ten times higher than the official tally of 4.8 lakh coronavirus deaths in the country over the two years.
According to the World Health Organization, coronavirus might have killed as many as 47.4 lakh people in India between 2020 and 2021, either directly or indirectly through infection. The figure is approximately ten times the country's official Covid death toll of 4.81 lakh at the end of 2021, which India disputes.
WHO estimates that 1.5 crore individuals died from the direct or indirect effects of COVID-19 during the first two years of the epidemic, rather than the 54 lakh that have been officially recognized by countries separately, according to its report on excess mortality due to coronavirus.
Health ministers from several states criticized the health both at the 14th session of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) on Saturday, May 7, claiming that the recent WHO report on COVID excess fatalities "intended to show the country in a poor light."
Several health ministries questioned the WHO's figures, calling them inaccurate. Covid-19 fatalities are systematically reported in the country, according to ministers and state representatives, according to a legal process.
"There is no rationale behind the modelling methodology used by WHO to arrive at the estimate. All health ministers at the conference here have condemned the report and passed a resolution against it. We have urged Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to convey India's disappointment to WHO and raise it at higher international forums," PTI quoted Karnataka's Health Minister K Sudhakar.
