Pakistan rejects WHO report on Covid -19 deaths, Questions the mathematical model used
text_fields
After India criticised the excess Covid-19 death count published by the WHO, Pakistan followed suit. The Pak government rejected the global body's report and suggested the software used must have had an error.
Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel said officials in the country have been gathering data manually on Covid deaths. "There may be a difference of a few hundred but not hundreds of thousands," reported Samaa News. A note explaining the country's data collection and calculation process was added to the statement rejecting WHO's numbers.
Similar to the argument raised by Indian health authorities, Patel said the methodology used by WHO is questionable. "Pakistan collected the figures from hospitals, union councils, and graveyards."
According to the WHO report, there were 260,000 Covid-19 deaths in Pakistan which is eight times the official figure. Pak government's official records show 30,369 COVID-19 deaths with over 1.5 million infections.
The WHO report states close to 15 million people died globally due to Covid-19 and the pandemic's overwhelming impact on the health system. The official death count reported by countries accounts for six million deaths.
The Pakistan health ministry said a district-level reporting mechanism was in place to gather data on every Covid-related death. The number was collected at a provincial level by respective health care systems and a cumulative number is shared on a national level. The data is reported via official channels. "The mortality audit carried out by the NCOC (National Command and Control Center) critically looked at the graveyard data of big cities".
The statement concluded by saying the death count in Pakistan is verifiable and accepted globally as the reporting system includes multiple checks and balances.
Former special assistant to the then prime minister on health Faisal Sultan also said the WHO report is not reliable and said government studies on graveyard burials did not reveal a large number of uncounted victims of Covid-19.
He added that the figures are "extremely sensitive". Sultan admitted that a 100% correct death count is not possible but claimed the actual death count maybe 10-30% less than the government figures.