Docs: Pace of jabs still sluggish; motivate people
NEW DELHI: The pace of Covid-19 vaccinations is sluggish in the city despite chief minister Arvind Kejriwal directing Delhi government-run hospitals to carry out vaccinations 12 hours a day, from 9am to 9pm.
The government has also directed its hospitals to run six vaccination centres each on their premises.
Since the extended 12-hour vaccination drive began on March 22, on average, 31,504 doses have been administered daily. On Friday, only 20,652 shots were administered, of which 16,181 were first doses to new recipients.
In comparison, at least 46,769 jabs — both first and second doses — were administered last Saturday, two days before the extended timings kicked in, government data said.
Government analysis so far, however, has shown there has been an uptick in immunisation in the government centres when compared to private ones.
During a spot check earlier this week, HT found vaccination centres at two out of three hospitals that this reporter visited, had closed by 5pm.
At trans-Yamuna region’s Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, the waiting rooms outside its “walk-in” emergency department — it has now been converted into three vaccination centres under tents— remained deserted on Tuesday. At 5:30pm, two staff nurses leaving the centre asked the reporter to return the following day between 9am and 5pm if the visit was for a shot. “We have a capacity for vaccinating 600 people, but there were only 144 shots administered throughout the day. People are not coming even between 9am and 5pm, they need to be motivated,” said Dr RS Rautela, medical director, Guru Teg Bahadur hospital.
The “walk-in” emergency department had been set up in 2019 by the hospital to help triage patients outside its main emergency. The structure now houses all three vaccination counters running at the hospital.
According to a senior doctor at the hospital, the three sites have a capacity to inoculate 600 people. “However, we manage to vaccinate only about 300 to 350 people a day. The number hasn’t picked up despite increasing capacity.
The vaccination centres remain vacant after around 3pm. It is highly unlikely that people will come in at 7pm or 8pm to get their shots here,” said a doctor.
Elsewhere, at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital, finding the vaccination centre itself was a challenge with no proper signboard to guide people. The centre is located behind the main hospital building. The tented waiting room outside was vacant and a lock hung on the door to the single-block vaccination centre at 6pm on Tuesday. A guard stationed at the neighbouring building asked the reporter to return before 5pm the next day.
“Our vaccine doses haven’t been increased yet. The districts need to provide us with more manpower and furniture. We have only 200 doses allocated for the hospital and that usually runs out by afternoon. So, there is no point in running the centre till 9pm, just to have people come here and be turned away,” said Dr BL Sherwal, medical director, Rajiv Gandhi Superspeciality hospital, Tahirpur.
Delhi government representatives did not respond to requests for a comment on these issues.
At the 2,000-bed Lok Nayak hospital, although all major gates to the staircase leading to the upper floors -- where the vaccination centres are located -- had been locked, a sign pointed to the one that remained open for Covid-19 vaccination on Wednesday at 7pm. Outside the site, there were nursing and police personnel who said anybody could get vaccinated 24x7 at the single operational site.
The 24x7 vaccination centre at the hospital has been functional for nearly a month now for administering shots to front-line workers who get off duty at odd hours. Between 9am and 5pm, the hospital runs another vaccination centre at the same location, with a third centre at the super-speciality hospital in the same compound.
“We have one centre running at all times. Not many people come to the hospital at night time. Usually, only 10 or maybe 20 come after 5pm, and that too mostly police and CRPF personnel. Anyone who comes to the hospital at any time can get their shot ,” said Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director, Lok Nayak hospital. The hospital vaccinates around 200 to 300 people a day, although it has a capacity to immunise over 600 persons.