TEN ZEROs in a sequence add up to nothing. In databases, they are used to indicate missing entries.. But on the lists of people who were tested for Covid in the districts of Bihar, they keep popping up against names.
To consider:
* At Jamui Barhat Primary Health Center, 0000000000 was entered into the records as the “mobile phone number” of 28 out of 48 people who were shown as being screened for Covid on January 16.
* It’s the 46 of 83 people tested on January 25.
* The same set of zeros was used for 73 of 150 entries on January 16 at Jamui Sadar, another PHC in the district.
An investigation of The Indian Express out of 885 entries for Covid testing in January from six PHCs in Jamui, Sheikhpura and Patna has found that this is just one of several ways that mobile phone numbers, a key tool for tracking and verifying those tested, are supposedly they misrepresented in a struggle to meet test targets. And, in some cases, upload fake data to siphon off earnings from unused test kits.
Data entry staff at district headquarters blame APS staff at the ground level, claiming that “they have to enter 10 zeros to load and validate data into the system in cases where APS does not fill in the numbers. mobile phone ”.
But district officials acknowledge that the magnitude of such inflows needs to be investigated, especially in APS located in cities like Jamui Sadar. In fact, the argument that this means people without a phone is proved by the fact that in two cases in Jamui, the mobile phone number, according to records investigated by The Indian Express, was 0200000000.
Mobile phone numbers are missing from Sheikhpura APS records.
“Now that we have false data, we will examine it at the PHC level,” said a senior district official in Jamui. “These APS are in or near towns, like Jamui Sadar … it is hard to believe that the examinees did not have cell phones,” said another official. “Even if the particular person does not have a cell phone, the usual protocol is to obtain a number from a family member or someone close to them in case we need to follow up if the test is positive.”
Thats not all.
In Sheikhpura, raw data compiled by staff has blank “contact” columns for 205 of 245 entries for antigen testing performed by PHCs in Barbigha and Ariari between January 21-28. In fact, Barbigha’s records for January 28 showed blank columns in 56 out of 100 entries. PHC’s partial records show no phone numbers against 15 of 20 entries on January 25 and nine of 20 entries on January 27.
Then there are people on the lists whose names and phone numbers are genuine but unproven.
“How can you use my number? Who is committing this fraud? “asked Manoj Kumar, a student from Sikandara. The names and contact details of Kumar and his brother are among those examined at the Sikandara PHC of Jamui on January 18.” I’m going to the PHC to complain to the medical officer in charge. ” , He said.
If Manoj Kumar is angry, Suresh Paswan is puzzled. Test logs from January 25 at Sikandara PHC list Paswan and his phone number. But when contacted at the number, Paswan said that neither he nor any member of his family had ever been tested for Covid anywhere.
“At the beginning of last month, a team from the Department of Health came to conduct a survey in our town and wrote down our names and phone numbers. They told us that we would have to undergo a Covid test. Nothing happened after that, ”said Paswan, a day laborer.
In the same category are Ritesh Kumar, a student, and Kanhaiya Kumar, a five-year-old boy. Ritesh echoed Paswan: “A survey team visited our town and collected our names and numbers. But none of us were tested. “
The logs list several of these cases, as if they were looping:
* The cell phone number of Rudal Yadav, a driver from Bhagalpur’s Jagdishpur, about 110 km from Sikandara APS, was included in five entries on January 16. “I get text messages from time to time, but I ignore them. Where can I complain? And who has time? he said.
* Jitendra Yadav, a graduate, is surprised to learn that his phone number has been used against seven entries on Sikandara PHC’s January 16 list.
* Kishori Yadav, a marginal farmer from Sikandara’s Ramdih village, says he “cannot understand” how his phone number appears in seven entries with the names of his family’s numbers on the Covid test list.
* Raju Kumar, a student from Sheikhpura, is among those tested on January 25 at the Barbigha PHC. Kumar acknowledges that the test was done, but on January 21.
* T Mahto, who works at the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Patna office, is “shocked” to learn that he is listed as a Covid examiner at the nearby Rukunpura PHC on January 21. “I did not undergo a Covid test that day. But my mobile number is that of the health center because we have to do the Covid tests every time we go back to work after the license,” said Mahto. In Rukunpura, without However, 49 of the 52 entries on January 21, 22, 23 and 25 were confirmed as genuine.
There is no official explanation for the faulty data yet.
“In the initial phase, several patients were reluctant to give their numbers … But we will examine the cases in Barbigha and Ariari,” said a district official in Sheikhpura.
In Patna, an official said: “We have noticed the least number of anomalies here. But we are still monitoring our data closely. “
But again, voices from the ground suggest there is more to these numbers. “The job of the lab technicians is to go to the field and do test camps every day in the rotating villages. Many do not. The data tampering has been going on since September last year, when cases started to drop and people stopped going for tests, ”said a staff member at a primary care center in Sheikhpura.
A Jamui PHC staff member said: “Each PHC has a wealth of data from previous tests and various Health Department surveys during the peak of the Covid crisis. That’s why you find genuine names and mobile numbers … it doesn’t mean they have all been tested. “
On Monday, investigating 588 entries in Jamui, The Indian Express reported on the series of blatant irregularities that violated basic data protocols and cast doubt on the credibility of test data from these districts. Upon presenting the findings, Pratayaya Amrit, chief secretary of the Bihar Department of Health, had promised an investigation “at all levels” and said that civil surgeons, who are in charge of all activities of the Department of Health in a district, they are asked “to explain how these things are happening.”
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