The cause of death for Lithuanians is completely unknown: even doctors may not notice the alarms that went off during quarantine.

It is also unclear exactly when the first cases of Covid-19 reached different countries, so in theory there could be more deaths associated with this infection. For example, if an elderly person died in Lithuania before the quarantine was announced, there is a high probability that no one has been screened for coronavirus and another cause of death has appeared on the death certificate.

If such cases occurred, they should be reflected in the statistics on death-related deaths published by the Institute of Hygiene, for example, as an increase in the number of deaths due to acute respiratory disorders. These data could also show if there has been an increase in suicides, violent alcohol-related deaths in Lithuania, or if the aforementioned cardiovascular disease has not claimed more lives.

However, these data are currently not available to professionals in different fields or to the public, and it is unclear when we will know which will be the first in 2020. More than 10,000 died in the months. population of the country. This means that neither scientists nor doctors could detect lit alarms, even if they did.

Ensured that the data provided

The fact of death in Lithuania is confirmed by medical institutions, which also indicate the cause of death. The electronic death certificate travels to the Registration Center and must appear in the Electronic Health Information System (ESPBI IS). It is these data that are used by the Institute of Hygiene, which is responsible for the State Register of Deaths and their Causes.

How Delphi Still on April 6. Sandra Mekšriūnaitė, Head of the Hygiene Institute’s Department of Monitoring Cases of Death and its Causes, reported that it is currently not possible to present the causes of death in the first three months of this year.

“We regret to announce that we are unable to provide data on causes of death, from 2020 onwards. January We have a significant delay in the data from the Registration Center. We have no information on when the problem will be resolved,” the specialist responded to the request for journalists.

After contacting Mindaugas Samkus, a representative of the Records Center, he assured that the Institute of Hygiene receives electronic death certificates “as before.”

“We provide the Institute with information on deaths and, specifically, testimonies that indicate the causes of death. (…) They receive from us, but a little without operation, not from yesterday, “said M. Samkus.

After asking if the specialists of the Institute of Hygiene already have electronic death certificates available in January-March of this year, the interviewee assured that the institute should have such data.

“They have to have them. They must have that information according to the software developed, in January, February and March. March maybe not the last few weeks. So far, as before, both last year and earlier this year, they have been provided with that information, possibly with a delay of one or two weeks. Until now, everything has been adapted to them, but their needs have probably changed, they have informed us about it and now we are looking for opportunities to solve that problem and provide them with data promptly, ”said M. Samkus.

When asked to clarify how much March data should already be available to the Institute of Hygiene, a spokesman for the Records Center said there may not yet be death certificates for the last week of March.

“As I say, maybe the last few weeks are not summarized, but they really have to have the first few weeks. That delay is due to the fact that, in general, the amount of data and electronic documents in that system has increased in recent years and then the presentation of the information they use takes a little time, “said M. Samkus.

The problem could be solved only after one year

However, as you can see from Delphi documents received, the problem is much deeper. It turns out that the Institute of Hygiene officially requested a long delay in the data from the Records Center at the end of January this year. A copy of this article was also sent to the Ministry of Health (SAM).

“We would like to inform you that the Institute of Hygiene (…) faces problems obtaining an electronic medical death certificate (MML), which makes it difficult to maintain the State Register of Deaths and their Causes,” the document read.

Starting January 29. At the end of January this year, specialists did not even have access to all the death certificates from December last year, 1,100 were missing. The letter also indicates that the electronic health group at the Records Center had been informed of the problems before , but the problem not only remained. , but even more complicated.

Documents available to journalists show the Records Center on February 6. SAM was also forced to provide the necessary data to the death registry in a timely manner.

“The Registry Center is aware of the data problem (…) delays (…). The situation is currently being monitored and we hope that the results will improve in the near future (…),” states the response. Records Center officer.

It also states that, if necessary, the problem could be addressed by modernizing the electronic health information system, but that this is only planned for 2020. end of 2021 at the beginning In other words, information on the causes of death of those who now They have died would be available to the public and professionals only after a year.

This means that the provision of data to official world organizations, which for a long time did not allow Lithuania to shine brightly, would be interrupted: we were among the top countries in terms of the number of deaths caused by suicide, cardiovascular disease and alcohol consumption.

“It just caught our eye then. We have to report the two internationals, both Eurostat and WHO, with official statistics,” – S. Mekšriūnaitė told LNK news earlier.

It is unclear how quarantine affected risk groups.

Doctors have already noted that these data are not available. As Vytautas Kasiulevičius, a physician at the Santara Clinics Family Medicine Center, formerly at the Delfi Delfi Center, said, the delay in helping people at risk, with cardiovascular and oncological diseases, can have more painful consequences than Covid-19.

If irreparable harm had not yet been done to the health of these people during the quarantine, V. Kasiulevičius said he was unable to respond, because this data is not available to doctors at this time.

“At least I don’t have access to the data, which is probably in the Records Center yet. It would be very interesting to see how many new deaths there have been in the last month, how many different events have taken place, etc. But those data will be more open to our communities, probably only in two months. But I guess there is a certain impact, the fact that there is no planned aid, it probably has it on human health, and therefore, we must do everything possible to obtain the aid that is not It can be transferred remotely, it needs to be renewed a little, “said the doctor.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Health is in no rush to find out how death statistics in Lithuania have changed in recent months. April 14th Delphi During a press conference, Health Minister Aurelijus Verygos asked if he had the latest data on the suicide situation in Lithuania, or is there any indication that the quarantine has already damaged the mental well-being of Lithuanians?

“It just caught our eye then. Furthermore, since such data is not collected quickly and easily. If someone has had to look at statistics, we generally have them for the past year, a few months after the start of the year, when the data is already being calculated and summarized very precisely. Of course, we will also be able to see some intermediate results. Meanwhile, the time interval is really very short, “replied A. Veryga.

The endless chain of letters sent between institutions is probably the answer to the question why the Ministry of Health (SAM) does not know if the quarantine already has side effects on the Lithuanian people. There are also reasonable doubts as to whether the Minister will be able to fulfill his promise and provide at least “provisional data”.

Interestingly, A. Veryga himself claims that he has no information about poor access to electronic death certificates.

“I don’t know, it’s a novelty to me that the data is delayed somewhere because death certificates are issued, you know, fast. Without them, people wouldn’t be able to bury their loved ones. I don’t know who could get stuck in that system , even in theory, because if they were stuck, I think we would all have heard about it a long time ago. I don’t know, we will be able to find out where the problem is. And the Institute of Hygiene is a subordinate body to us, so if you have any questions, I think they can tell us. After all, to contact the Records Center yourself and find out what’s causing the data transfer problems, “- April 17. Mr. Veryga spoke.

SAM asked for help more than once

This is exactly what the Institute of Hygiene did, the documents show: It asked for help from SAM more than once. A formal request was sent to the Ministry by specialists working on death statistics in late February.

After that, on February 28, SAM Deputy Minister Kristina Garuolienė again addressed the Records Center in an official letter.

“Ensure the adequate supply of data to the Institute of Hygiene in a timely manner, and if you encounter any problems, eliminate them as soon as possible,” we write in a letter sent by SAM to the Records Center.

Once again, another call from the Ministry was sent just before the quarantine, on March 6. and asked for “immediate rectification”.

However, the response from the Records Center was similar. As stated in the official document, electronic death certificates are included in the ESPBI IS along with other documents that are processed in order of priority. The Records Center states that there is no possibility of filing death certificates in the first place.

According to LNK News, around 4 million documents enter the ESPBI system each month, of which 3-4 thousand. It consists of death certificates. Why death certificates became inaccessible precisely this year, the answer remains unclear, as in 2018 and 2019. They were made available in a timely manner to state registries of the state death registry.

Obviously, none of the letters and requirements sent to SAM solve the problem. This is also confirmed in writing by M. Samkus, a representative of the Records Center Delphi provided the answer

“Today we cannot say when the data that the institute needs in the system will be processed and the institute will be able to retrieve it from the system,” he said.

Has SAM taken any further action on the causes of death of Lithuanians due to the lack of information on the causes of death, which has become especially necessary not only for statistics, but also for specialists in different fields? Delphi It has no information.

Since 2019 May The Registration Center depends on the Ministry of Economy and Innovation. This ministry was left without a minister last fall, when its former Virgilijus Sinkevičius was appointed European Commissioner. Žygimantas Vaičiūnas, who is also Minister of Energy, is Acting Minister.

According to S. Mekšriūnaitė, head of the Institute of Hygiene, the specialists are in “complete ignorance”, because on April 8. The Institute of Hygiene was only available until January 25. Death certificates were issued. In other words, specialists so far cannot reach about 6,000. documents that prove the fact of death.

“We are jealous of how other countries publish and analyze statistics on causes of death in terms of causes of death, how much Covid reflects and how much not. We can only see it with jealousy, because this data is not available to us in official statistics,” S. Mekšriūnaitė said about the problem before the LNK news.

More people died in March this year than last

The only statistics currently publicly available are the total number of deaths. According to Lithuanian statistics, in 2020 3,571 people died in March, of which 3,029 were 60 m. or older

In March last year, 3,177 people died in Lithuania, 60 years old. and older accounted for 2,825 deaths.

A total of 10,186 people died in the first three months of this year, according to preliminary data from the Department of Statistics. There were 10,548 deaths during the same period last year.

However, based on these data, explains the researcher from the Lithuanian Center for Social Research, the sociologist dr. Daumantas Stumbrys, no conclusions can be drawn.

“Without causes of death, we cannot come to the conclusion that in odd years more people die, in even years, even less. It’s kind of funny, it’s just statistical deviations, not statistically significant changes. As a scientist, I don’t know the reasons that can lead to greater deaths in one year and less in others.

If you look at all the months of a year in general, you will see that those figures are the same, different in different months. But here we can find explanations. Let’s say 1,000 fewer people die in the summer than in the winter. This is most likely related to some diseases that do not necessarily cause death but affect the human immune system. For example, colds. If we have around 4,000 deaths in the winter, it’s around 3,000 in the summer, “he says.

According to the researcher, only one conclusion can be drawn from the general death statistics: from 2007 to 2008. The number of deaths in Lithuania decreased significantly. But even the reason for this exceptionally apparent change, he explains, helped explain death statistics from specific causes of death.

“There has been a fairly strong change in the number of deaths. Standardized mortality rates decreased during that period. There are many studies that this is related to alcohol-related causes of death, decreased automatic events. And we can seeing this not only from March, but from the data for the whole year, from 2007. to 2011 we have a decrease in mortality rates, “explained the interlocutor.