Low death certification in Nagaland during COVID-19 pandemic

• KOHIMA — During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nagaland recorded low medically certified death rates — 7.6% in 2020 and 3.8% in 2021, as per the Registrar General of India's Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) 2021 report.
• 
  
• The report indicated that only 142 (3.8%) of the 3780 deaths in 2021 and 191 (7.6%) of the 2509 deaths registered in 2020 were medically certified in the state.
  
• 
  
• With just 3.8% in 2021, Nagaland ranked 35 out of 36 states and union territories in the country to have medically certified deaths. Jammu and Kashmir stood at the bottom with just 0.2%.
• 
  
• The national level is 23.4%.
• 
  
• Nationally, medically certified deaths to total registered deaths have increased by 0.9 percentage point as compared to last year.
• 
  
• However, five states/UTs, including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Karnataka and Nagaland, saw a decline in 2021 compared to the previous year.
• 
  
• Nagaland's medically certified deaths hit a 10-year low of 2.4% in 2012, with 2013 and 2021 recording similarly low rates at 3.5% and 3.8%, respectively.
• 
  
• The highest medically certified deaths in Nagaland peaked at 28.7% in 2018, followed by 15.4% in 2017, 15.3% in 2014, 12% in 2019, 9.2% in 2016, 8.2% in 2015, and 7.6% in 2020.
• 
  
• The percentage of medically certified deaths due to certain infections and parasitic diseases constitutes 6.1 per cent of total medically certified deaths at the national level.

Also read: Nagaland’s solitary PwD training centre faces visibility, infrastructure hurdles

• Six states/UTs with the highest share of medically certified deaths due to infections/parasitic diseases are Arunachal Pradesh (23%), Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (14.9%), Nagaland (14.8%), Delhi (13%), West Bengal (12.5%), and Tripura (12.3%).
• 
  
• Arunachal Pradesh (11.3%) and Mizoram (10.4%) have the highest percentage share of neoplasm-related deaths, with Nagaland reporting 9.9%. Meanwhile, Nagaland reported six deaths due to Diabetes Mellitus.
• 
  
• Nagaland has 150 medical institutions with in-patient facilities covered under MCCD, with 95.3% of hospitals reporting certified causes of death.