Karnataka massively under-reports Covid-19 cases as medical officers refuse to share reports

As government medical officers refused to share Covid-19 reports with the government, an information black hole and massive under-reporting of Covid-19 cases was seen in Karnataka on Tuesday. This affects data analysis and policy decisions if the government doesn't know the true Covid-19 picture in the districts and thereby the state. The doctors refusing to share reports of Covid-19 cases are demanding a pay hike.

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Bagalkote reported zero cases, Udupi reported one case, and Ballari, Bidar, Chamarajanagar, Dharwad, Gadag, Kodagu, Kolar, Ramanagar, and Yadgir reported cases in two digits. This is because data is not being shared by government medical officers with the government and this is expected to continue through September 18 till Karnataka Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) meet to decide the further course of action.

Udupi District Health Officer Dr Sudhirchandra Sooda told DH, "Government medical officers stopped sharing Covid reports from Monday. While patients are being informed from the call centre and getting them admitted in hospitals and treated, we are not getting a picture of how many patients have been infected in the district. Primary contacts are also being seen but they're not bothered about numbers. We have to wait for the outcome from the government's end and decide later about the strike."

Bagalkote District Health officer Dr Anant Desai said the district reported 162 cases in reality on Tuesday but the bulletin showed zero. "It is not just Bagalkote and Udupi, from tomorrow all districts will show zero cases. We have contacted all these 162 patients and they have been treated in hospitals or home isolation though. The figures from other districts are yesterday's backlog and not the actual picture."

Though the Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar claimed that the government has conceded to the doctors' demand for a salary hike, the strike was not called off. "The revision in the salaries will be made based on a six-year, 13-year, and 20-year basis, promotions for the doctors and details on the same will be obtained from the medical officers," Sudhakar said.

Health Minister B Sriramulu and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Ashwath Narayan were also present. Despite the blank statistics, Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey said that 'tests are at the same level.' The state tested 68,365 Covid-19 samples on Monday. After meeting with the ministers in Vidhan Soudha, Dr Srinivas GA, President, KGMOA, said, "We are not calling off the strike. We have instructed all districts to refrain from sharing Covid reports at least till Friday."