BENGALURU: Central government’s permission for walk-in registrations for vaccination is causing havoc at vaccine sites in Bengaluru. This is mainly happening due lack of emphasis by the Centre on microplanning, resulting in unnecessary congregations of senior citizens who are rushing to hospitals to get the jab.Many private hospitals in Bengaluru are seeing around 300 beneficiaries a day, including people who have been unable to register on CoWIN and those who wanted to walk-in and register.
“Considering the population of the elderly, the rush is only going to increase. While we are very empathetic towards them, this kind of rush is becoming a problem not just for hospital staff but for senior citizens too,” said Dr Yateesh Govindaiah, assistant director for medical services, Apollo Hospitals.Dr Satyanarayana Mysore, senior pulmonologist and head of the department of sleep medicine at Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru, said that the government had introduced the vaccine in phases based on vulnerability to infection and availability of the vaccine.
However, “there will be exceptions in situations where a person is susceptible but you cannot go by the set criteria issued by the government. In such situations there should be a way that clinicians can make an exception,” he said. Dr Satyanarayana said that the government should allow general practitioners, physicians, pulmonologists etc, to decide on who should get the vaccine and also allow them to administer the shot as it would ease the load on government and private hospitals.
“A nodal vaccine officer should be present at each hospital to supervise matters and provide discretionary powers to pulmonologists and physicians to take a call on who should be vaccinated on priority. Also, doctors can identify vulnerable people from the hospital database, and there should be a separate methodology for it,” Dr Satyanarayana said.
Meanwhile, hospitals such as M S Ramaiah Memorial Hospital have made arrangements for group exercise therapy and selfie counters to keep anxious senior citizens engaged. Hospital president Dr Naresh Shetty said, “Our issue is that they are senior citizens. If they walk in without registration it becomes difficult to manage them. Our empathy is definitely with them. But we need to keep in mind that if people don’t register and come, it won’t be fair to those who have registered.”
While the response for phase 3 is heartening, doctors said that crowding could lead to infection. However, elderly people have their reasons. “Right now, there is a mixed feeling about the vaccination. Once everyone knows it is safe, the rush will increase. It is better to get vaccinated now. This rush is less as compared to what it may be after some days,” said Rama Shetty, a homemaker.Dr Giridhara Babu, senior epidemiologist said, “It’s very important to ensure that vaccination sessions are scheduled based on availability by mapping beneficiaries. With the help of cab aggregators and help desks, NGOs such as Rotary can help out with facilitating movement for vaccination.”