JNMC clarifies death figures

Aligarh : The Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) and Principal, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Prof Shahid Ali Siddiqui has denied the exaggerated figure of deaths doing rounds on social media. With onset of the second wave of Covid 19, eighteen serving faculty members unfortunately succumbed to the virus. Eleven passed away at JNMC, three lost live in private hospitals in Aligarh and four died outside Aligarh.

In a rejoinder, Prof Siddiqui said “AMU has been bereaved of 18 faculty members since the onset of second Covid wave, out of which 15 were either Covid or suspected Covid patients. Three patients have died because of non-Covid reasons such as Brain Tuberculosis and liver disease. And moreover, out of the 15 Covid or suspected Covid deaths, four have occurred outside Aligarh”.

“These social media posts have also wrongly mentioned that the retired faculty members who died in the past one-month were all undergoing treatment at JNMC. We like to make it clear that many of these superannuated faculty members were not even in Aligarh at the time of their deaths”, he added.

Prof Siddiqui further said: “JNMC administration and its team of doctors and paramedical staff is working round the clock with the best of their abilities and scores of our health workers also got infected with Coronavirus in the line of duty. We exhort all concerned especially the AMU employees to get vaccinated at the earliest on top priority as the incidence of death has been very low among inoculated people. JNMC is also a designated vaccination centre and we urge everyone to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and social distancing. We offer deep condolences to families of all the deceased”.

The University has also approached ICMR to investigate samples sent from JNMC lab for any Covid variants that might be present in Aligarh, giving rise to severity of the disease.