All the deaths diagnosed with COVID-19 have the cause confirmed by lab diagnoses, Tatiana Zatyk, division head at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, told a news conference when asked to comment on the reports that when a person dies, the relatives are offered €200 to 16,000 lei to accept a death certificate with the indication that the person died from COVID-19.
“We have clear, approved definitions for making the diagnosis of COVID-19. We have the WHO recommendations that guide the health system when finding out the cause of death. The cause of death is confirmed by laboratory diagnoses and all the reported deaths from COVID-19 were confirmed this way,” explained Tatiana Zatyk.
In the news conference, there was also discussed the death of a doctor from Soroca, which wasn’t confirmed by the Ministry as being caused by COVID-19. Svetlana Lupu, head of the Medical Services Quality Management Department, said that to elucidate this case, she contacted the National Clinical Hospital, where the death occurred. Two samples taken from the doctor during ten days tested negative for COVID-19 and thus this wasn’t indicted as the cause of death.
As to the assertions that the official statistics about the infections with COVID-19 are not real and the authorities took an incorrect step when they decided to test only the persons with symptoms, made by former health ministers Ruxandra Glavan and Ala Nemerenco, the Ministry of Health said the testing strategy is implemented in accordance with Moldova’s COVID-19 response plan that was approved in March, when the possible epidemiological developments were classified into several scenarios. Secretary of state Constantin Rymish said the epidemiological situation in the country is at the community transmission stage and tests are thus done at community level. Also, employers initiated the testing of employees before they return to work. The tests are mainly done at private labs. Yesterday alone, about 60 tests done at private labs were positive. Now that the ordinary hospital medical assistance services were resumed, all the health facilities test the persons who seek help for other reasons too.
