TTB: Doctor's Cause of Death Recorded as 'Pneumonia' Despite Getting Covid-19 Treatment

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Dr. Erdinç Şahin (50), a family doctor in Silifke, Mersin, died yesterday (April 23) after receiving Covid-19 treatment for three days. However, his cause of death was recorded as "viral pneumonia," according to the Turkish Medical Association (TTB).

The TTB had said in early April that patients who died without a positive coronavirus test were not included in the Ministry of Health's official death toll.

CLICK - Turkish Medical Association: Turkey Does Not Report All Covid-19 Deaths

Dr. Şahin was one of them as he tested negative in two PCR tests, the TTB said. Though he received Covid-19 treatment because his computed tomography images and clinical condition indicated that he had the disease.

The TTB asked the ministry to announce the cause of the death of Dr. Şahin, who died despite not being in the risk group. Not reporting his cause of death as Covid-19 may also cause loss of a right, it added.

In its previous statement, the TTB said that the ministry was not using the codes suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) for Covid-19 tests.

Minister Fahrettin Koca denied the claim, saying that they were "transparent" about the numbers.

One of the codes, U07.1, is for patients whose polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were positive, and the other, U07.2, is for those who had the disease but died without a positive test. According to Turkey's Death Reporting System, U07.1 is for MERS-CoV and U07.2 code is for avian influenza infection, the TTB had said.

It had also noted that there was no parallel between the daily number of new cases and deaths, and the figures did not match the patterns observed in other countries.

The ministry updates test results on a daily basis but does not give information on the number of patients receiving Covid-19 treatment. Figures on the tests do not exactly reflect the number of patients as some receive treatment despite testing negative and many people are tested more than once during the course of their treatment. (AS/VK)