According to Health Minister Fahrettin husband’s statement in Turkey (April 7) the total number of 34 thousand 109 cases of loss of life was increased to 725.
The Turkish Medical Association (TTB), on the other hand, made an important point regarding the death and case rates announced for COVID-19. Referring to the fact that these data are not parallel, TTB asked why the WHO did not use international codes for corona deaths of the Ministry of Health.
Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences Specialist Dr. In the statement, which included the comments of A. Coşkun Yorulmaz, it was emphasized that this situation caused the mortality rates to be under-shown.
Here is the flash explanation of TTB…
WHY DOES THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH USE THE INTERNATIONAL CODES PROVIDED BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION FOR COVID-19 DEATHS?
In emergencies involving the health of the majority of the population, such as pandemic, mortality surveillance is indispensable to monitor the extent of the outbreak in the community, to guide public health measures and to measure their impact. One of the most important tools of mortality surveillance is to follow the causes of death in death certificates. Correct regulation of death documents is essential for epidemiological analysis and the creation of accurate and reliable information for public health studies.
NO PARALLELESS BETWEEN VERIFIED CASES AND DEATH NUMBERS
Turkey is located in the Covidien-19 evaluation question marks over the deaths of pandemic. The death numbers announced recently have not been compatible with epidemiological distributions; There is no parallel between the confirmed number of cases and the number of deaths. Undoubtedly, it is very satisfying that the number of deaths does not increase, but it is a situation to be taken into consideration that it does not match the pattern observed in other countries of the world.
COVID-19 DOES NOT GO TO RECORDS!
Although reports from physicians affiliated with our association support the disease, computed tomography and / or clinical findings support the disease, PCR testing is not recorded as COVID-19 when patients die, but can be referred to as ‘viral pneumonia’, ‘natural death’ or ‘infectious disease’. .
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposes two different international codes for death records during the COVID-19 pandemic. These codes are;
U07.1: COVID-19, virus identified (cases confirmed by laboratory test (PCR)) and
U07.2: COVID-19, virus is undefined.
WHO states that the code (U07.2) should be used for potential / suspicious cases diagnosed clinically and epidemiologically but not confirmed by laboratory testing (https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/covid19/en /). It is also recommended to use these codes in death notifications (https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/COVID-19-coding-icd10.pdf?ua=1).
When the Death Report System (ÖBS) used to issue death certificates in our country is examined as of 06.04.2020; It is seen that there is MERS COV DISEASE in exchange for the (U07.1) diagnosis code and AVIAN INFLUENZA INFECTION in exchange for the code (U07.2), and the diagnostic codes are not regulated as a result of WHO decisions. Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences Specialist Dr. A. Coşkun Yorulmaz’s article on the subject is striking.
“IT WILL BE A WAY TO SHOW LOW OF DEATH NUMBERS”
It is a question of why the Ministry of Health does not use the codes recommended by WHO. In the USA, the Center for Disease Prevention (CDC) recommends that such codes be as specific as possible, and broader and nonspecific descriptions such as viral pneumonia should be avoided. Failure to use these codes as recommended by international organizations such as WHO causes a low number of deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby creating the risk of not being able to accurately determine the extent of the problem and not adequately taking public health measures.
We call on the Ministry of Health to use the COVID-19 codes determined by WHO, to review the death records through this approach as of February and to apply the verbal autopsy technique if necessary. If death records are opened, the Turkish Medical Association is ready to contribute to this process.
