State mandates pvt hospitals to report under-5 deaths within 24 Hours

Mumbai: A recent govt resolution (GR) issued by the public health department has made it mandatory for all private healthcare facilities in the state, including trust hospitals and nursing homes, to report deaths in the 0-5 age group within 24 hours to local health authorities and log the data monthly on central tracking portals like the Health Management Information System (HMIS).The resolution noted that while data from public health institutions is accurately recorded on the Civil Registration System (CRS) as well as the HMIS, “it has been observed that records from private healthcare institutions are not being captured accurately”. The GR stated that fewer child deaths are being registered in private healthcare institutions compared to public healthcare institutions.Maharashtra currently has a neonatal mortality rate of 11 per 1,000 live births and an under-5 child mortality rate of 16 per 1,000 live births. However, public health department officials told TOI that this is still not an accurate picture due to under-reporting.Private practitioners denied any under-reporting. A city-based paediatrician said, “Any patient who passes away is taken to the cemetery only after a death certificate is issued by the treating doctor, which itself makes it notifiable.”A medical administrator at a top trust-run hospital in Bandra said, “We enter the required data on the system every month. If there is an issue, it is not because of the hospital.”