BENGALURU: In a troubling sign of rural Karnataka‘s poor medical access, the recently published Civil Registration System (CRS) report for 2021 revealed that more people died in the state’s hinterlands than in its urban pockets during the Covid pandemic.Of the 6.6 lakh deaths recorded in the state that year, rural areas accounted for 3.5 lakh deaths as opposed to 3.2 lakh reported in urban areas.

State health secretary Harsh Gupta attributed this to poor access to timely medical care in rural regions. “What matters is how much of a gap there is between the rural and urban deaths, considering the nationwide phenomenon of hinterlands lacking access to medical care,” he added.Rural areas continue to suffer due to limited healthcare infrastructure, vacancies in recruitment of medical staff, and the distance to the nearest health facility. The state govt, Gupta added is addressing the issue with initiatives like increased recruitment and better access to healthcare centres. Report shows spike in overall mortality In fact, data assessed by TOI for the last 10 years from CRS suggest that the situation was the same even during pre-Covid years pointing to a systemic problem of poor medical care in rural Karnataka. The only anomaly identified for Karnataka was in 2015 with a difference of only 1,000 deaths between the rural and urban population.The CRS report also showed a sharp spike in overall mortality in Karnataka. While the annual average number of deaths between 2012 and 2020 stood at 4.5 lakh, the pandemic year of 2021 saw deaths surge to 6.6 lakh – a jump of over 2 lakh. Men accounted for 60% of the deaths that year, with 4 lakh male fatalities recorded.Karnataka, along with 17 other states in the country, registered “excess” deaths of 19.7 lakh, with Karnataka contributing 1.6 lakh to the tally.The highest number of deaths was seen in the 70-plus age group (2.6 lakh), followed by those aged 55-64 (1.3 lakh). The least number of deaths that year was between the age group of 1 to 4 with 947 deaths.Meanwhile, the report also reveals that Karnataka’s birth rate is on a reducing scale from 11.3 lakh in 2012 to 9 lakh in 2021. The state is among 12 in the country that has shown a significant decrease in birth rate, according to the CRS report. Gupta said the CRS report has not yet been considered by his department.