Was there deliberate suppression of COVID-19 deaths?

Oct 05, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

An average of seven coronavirus deaths per day is likely to happen over the next month or so, unless regional plans are implemented to suppress the spread of the virus. The virus had been percolating within the country since March and it is further spiking now that the economy has reopened.
One of the questions which has been asked is if the virus was spreading all the time, including asymptomatically, how come it was only from mid-July that the numbers began to rise steeply.
If you understand exponential spread, you will appreciate how a few cases can lead to a widespread epidemic. It is therefore quite possible that the number of cases was there all along and is now spiking as the economy opens.
But how does this explain the massive increase in deaths? One possible explanation as to why there were not more deaths between March and July, assuming that there was unrecorded spread, could be that persons were dying all along but their deaths were not being attributed to the coronavirus. On the other hand, it could also be that there was deliberate suppression of the data on COVID-19 deaths.
Suggestions have been dropped in the public domain that there was a suppression of the COVID-19 deaths under the previous administration. An allegation has been made that medical personnel were told not to ascribe some deaths to the virus since this would increase the number of deaths.
This is a serious allegation which should not be treated lightly. It amounts to medical malpractice for any medical personnel to attempt to falsify the death records.
Professional misconduct is a serious medical offence. No medical personnel should go unsanctioned if that person is guilty of misrepresenting either the number of COVID-19 deaths or cases.
The Medical Council Regulations lists a whole range of acts which constitute serious medical misconduct. It defines serious medical misconduct as any document prepared or thing done by a person registered under the Act that is contrary to medical ethics or medical practice. And this includes “knowingly giving a certificate with respect to birth, death, state of health, vaccination, disinfection or with respect to any other matter relating to life, health, disease or accidents which the medical practitioner knows or ought to know is untrue, misleading or otherwise improper”.
Misrepresenting the case of death on a death record constitutes serious medical malpractice. And anyone found doing this should face expulsion from the medical profession.
Such an offense is inexcusable. Accurate data allow for the right interventions to be made. If the amount of coronavirus cases or deaths is misrepresented, then it can lead to serious problems and either the wrong intervention or too late an intervention.
If the allegations of data suppression are true, then those making them should ask the Guyana Medical Council to launch an investigation into their validity. Any medical person found to be complicit in the suppression of the causes of deaths is liable to have his or her licence revoked. That person, in other jurisdictions would be liable to a very long prison sentence.
The allegation of the suppression of COVID-19 deaths is an extremely serious matter. It is not something which should be taken lightly because, if proven true, it means that many persons would have died and their families would have been deceived as to the true causes of their deaths.
It is shocking that no investigation has yet been launched into this allegation. If the allegations, on the other hand, are someone’s idea of a political joke, then that person is sick in the mind. These are not things that you joke about.
This column is therefore calling for an immediate investigation into whether there was any suppression of COVID-19 deaths and also cases. It is most likely that if there were concerns over the former, there would have been concerns over the latter.
COVID-19 is a serious health threat. It is not an issue on which to score political points. This is not the time to be trying to seek political advantages. It would equally be inexcusable if this were the case.
If the government has evidence that there was data suppression, it should invoke the necessary investigation and expose those involved. If it has such information and does nothing, it would be complicit in condoning a terrible wrong to the families of those who died but who were misled about the causes of death.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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