NVSC justifies that it was not the case that closed its eyes: up to 1,171 unaccounted deaths were found

Robert Petraitis, director of the National Center for Public Health (NVSC), reported several hundred more unaccounted deaths than previously reported.

I found even more deaths

“On December 30, NVSC reapplied for e. health data – death certificate data (…) I can affirm that this discrepancy is 1171 cases, ”R. Petraitis told reporters on Sunday.

Around 804 unaccounted deaths have been previously reported.

In a remote conference on Sunday, R. Petraitis explained that Unaccounted deaths from COVID-19 were identified in mid-December. In total – 804 deaths.

According to R. Petraitis, the NVSC asked the Registry Center to provide data on the death certificates of people who were once diagnosed with a coronavirus infection using the PCR method.

“We analyze the data obtained and compare it with the data we receive from medical institutions. As you probably know, medical institutions must provide information to the NVSC within two hours orally and within 12 hours in writing, in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health. Thus, on December 17, we carried out this analysis and informed the Ministry about the discrepancies in the number of deaths, ”said R. Petraitis.

Not reported by medical institutions?

According to him, the discrepancy in deaths from COVID-19 came about because many treatment facilities did not report to the NVSC.

“The list of institutions is very large. I could list those bodies, but they are the main ones that fight against the coronavirus infection. Also, the smaller institutions too, the GPs, who also cannot face the procedure to report deaths from a communicable disease. I really don’t want to name that huge list. But I would just like to say that the largest number of those 804 cases was in December, “said R. Pietraitis.

According to him, on December 30, the NVSC again requested electronic health data on death certificates.

Again, the data from the death certificates were compared with the reports submitted by the medical institutions. And I can affirm that this discrepancy is 1171 cases. Of those 1,171 cases, these are 441 deaths from COVID-19 and 836 cases from other causes. This situation and these discrepancies have shown that the problem is not really only the NVSC, but that it is a systemic problem related to the entire health system ”, explained R. Praitraitis.

He says he will have no information on the deaths.

According to him, the Ministry of Health was asked to postpone the entry into force of the Ministerial Order, which establishes a new procedure for epidemiological registration.

“Because in fact there will be such a situation that as of January 1 we will not have information about the deaths, we can say no,” said R. Pietraitis.

There are also problems with the number of sick people. Suppose some asymptomatic patients do not seek medical attention.

“We are faced with a situation where there really are a large number of people who have been ‘sick for a long time’. This NVSC is currently preparing an individual list of its patients for each GP so that the GP can review that list and report back to the NVSC. We very much look forward to the support of family doctors and the provision of that information, ”said R. Petraitis.

See the chaos

The head of the NVSC, who was criticized for his activities, assured that he would assume responsibility if deficiencies were identified in his activity or in that of the institution.

“But, as I mentioned, the NVSC is really having problems right now, not just because of, I would say, that inter-agency cooperation, because of the transition in information systems. In fact, it is very strange when an institution takes data from another institution, publishes it, and then it is no longer clear who published what, who has to comment on what, what data has been published, what data has not been published. In my opinion, this should not be the case, “said R. Pietraitis.

Has received criticism

Recently, the NVSC has received a lot of criticism.

For example, coronavirus morbidity statistics released Friday show that 130 people died from COVID-19 in the country last day, nearly double the last daily record of deaths from the infection.

However, a representative from the NVSC said that this figure is not just one-day data, but also hospital information that was not previously provided..

Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys, meeting with NVSC chief R. Petraitis, demanded written answers to the questions raised. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has stated that she has said that the NVSC leadership should be held accountable for the situation.