Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
Volunteers’ initiative to avoid long queues for vax
DOMBIVLI: A mile-long queue outside vaccination centres in the twin cities of Kalyan-Dombivli has become a common sight owing to the vaccine shortage here. To make a change in this situation, a musical troupe, Aarambha Pratishthan, has taken up an initiative to curb the queues at one of the vaccination centre and is willing to replicate it at other centres.
More than 50 volunteers in their 20s and 30s have formulated a system wherein the beneficiaries can send a ‘Hi’ on a WhatsApp number and get a form in return. On filling the form, the beneficiaries will get a token and time slot. They need to visit the centre at the allotted time and sit with their dedicated token number. They will get vaccinated in half-an-hour, avoiding long hours of wait.
The group also keeps some tokens aside for those who walk-in and have some disability or are too old. They also provide wheelchairs and pick-and-drop for senior citizens free of cost. The idea was coined by 30-yearold Yadnesh Patil, 23-year-old Ameya Shinde, 23-year-old Adwait Korgaonkar and 26-yearold Nishant Chavan. The system is in place at Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s (KDMC) Abhinav School, Dombivli (E).
Patil said, “We see people standing in queue for hours for vaccination and most of our parents went through the same ordeal. We decided to do something to ease the hardships faced by these persons. So, we coined this idea which required a minimum investment. We have a separate mobile phone for the purpose and people can call and message on the phone for tokens. A link is sent where they have to enter details and in halfan-hour they are given a token and time slot for vaccination.”
The KDMC gives them vaccine availability a day in advance for the same, from which a few doses are kept for those who cannot be sent back. Some volunteers of the group wait outside the centre to discourage people from crowding.
Sandip Nimbalkar, KDMC medical officer, said, “The youngsters are doing an incredible job of managing the centre well and reducing chaos outside the centre. We can think about implementing it in other centres if we have more volunteers.”