PARLIAMENT | The next-of-kin of those who died of complications caused by Covid-19 have not been able to get help from the National Disaster Management Agency’s (Nadma) funeral assistance programme, Amiruddin Hamzah (Pejuang-Kubang Pasu) reportedly said.
According to a report by the health news portal CodeBlue yesterday, this is because the victims’ death certificate does not state Covid-19 as the cause of death.
“There are Long Covid patients who do die after recovering from Covid-19 – they go back home, they have (Long Covid) symptoms, they are readmitted into the hospital, and they die.
“But the death certificate states reasons like ‘renal failure’ as the cause of death, with no other indication that points to Long Covid or the initial Covid that the patient had earlier,” Amirudin was quoted as saying.
The programme provides a one-off payment of up to RM5,000 to the next-of-kin of those who died of Covid-19.
Nadma’s website said that the death certificate “must clearly state Covid-19 as the cause of death”.
Amiruddin raised his concerns at the Dewan Rakyat during Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali’s winding-up speech.
According to CodeBlue, Noor Azmi responded by saying that hospitals cannot determine the cause of death in an arbitrary manner. Instead, doctors have to diagnose it based on tests and the kinds of treatment provided to the deceased.
“On whether the cause of death can be linked to Covid so that financial assistance can be given to the victim’s family, you may have to refer this to Nadma; and if the death can be attributed to Covid, there will be parties to determine the cause.
“So, if the cause of death was stated as ‘renal failure’, I’m sure they have done all the tests necessary to conclude that the death was due to renal failure,” Noor Azmi was quoted as saying.
Amiruddin rebutted by stressing that the death was “initially attributed to Covid” and Long Covid.
Long Covid refers to the health effects of Covid-19 that lasts long after the initial infection has cleared.
Its definitions vary widely and may cover issues such as lingering symptoms (fatigue, loss of sense of smell, shortness of breath, etc) in the weeks and months after the initial infection, and the higher risk of new problems such as stroke, heart failure and Type 1 diabetes.
Estimates of its prevalence ranged vastly due to the differing definitions used in various studies, but generally fall somewhere between two and 30 percent of Covid-19 survivors.
A survey found that about a quarter of UK employers reported that Long Covid is the main cause of long-term sick leaves. Meanwhile, a UK government review estimated that vaccines reduce the risk by about half.
‘Pandemic's true death toll could be much higher’
In Malaysia, the official tally shows that 33,994 people have died of Covid-19 and more than 3.5 million have survived the infection, as of Tuesday.
However, a study published on Thursday last week suggests that the pandemic's true death toll could be much higher.
It is estimated there are around 48,100 excess deaths in Malaysia since the beginning of the pandemic up to the end of last year, which is 1.53 times the official Covid-19 death toll of 31,500 for the period.
However, the estimate not only accounts for deaths that are caused by Covid-19 and its complications, but also the deaths indirectly caused by the pandemic due to factors such as increased incidence of mental illnesses and an overburdened healthcare system.
It also covers reductions in deaths caused by factors such as the lower rate of accidents due to lockdowns and certain non-Covid diseases.
The study published in the journal Lancet is the first peer-reviewed estimate of the pandemic’s true death toll – placing the global figure at over three times higher (18.20 million) than the official tally (5.94 million).
However, some experts have reportedly cast doubt on the study.
Among others, a news report by the journal Nature quoted Hebrew University of Jerusalem economist Ariel Karlinsky – who had worked on excess death estimates – saying that the global estimate of 18.2 million is reasonable but estimates for some individual countries seemed off. - Mkini
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