THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Writer N S Madhavan became one of the several seniors turned away from the Covid-19 vaccination centres due to the poor immunisation management in the state. The 73-year-old took to social media saying how vaccine delivery for seniors has not improved even on the fifth day of launching the programme.
“Total anarchy and probable corruption in corona vaccination. With great difficulty got a slot at GMTH, Karuvelipadi for this morning. When I reached there on time, the person in charge informed (me) that tokens for the day are issued and the govt (sic) hasn’t supplied enough vaccine,” Madhavan tweeted on Friday. “There was an unruly crowd of persons who were in similar position as I was. The system simply is not working and is hijacked by officials.”
His comments drew attention from other Twitter handles who described similar experience at the vaccination centres. The barrage of complaints continued even after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that a streamlining process would be initiated for better vaccine delivery and crowd management. Though a token system was introduced to facilitate spot registration, the system often went haywire due to lack manpower and stock of vaccine ampoules.
The Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) had anticipated the trouble and demanded the government for manpower to resolve the issue. “It is unfair to criticise the doctors who have to manage the vaccination along with other routine OP and Covid response activities with limited manpower. The sessions planned for some centres are beyond their capacity,” said KGMOA general secretary Dr T N Suresh.
The association demanded the National Health Mission to recruit more paramedics for vaccine delivery, limit the vaccination centres to major hospitals and open mass vaccination centres. At present, Family Health Centres (FHCs) and Primary Health Centres have become vaccine centres with a target to deliver vaccination for 100 persons per day with three health workers. “Often, more people turn up for spot registration and create chaos. The vaccination itself is a laborious process where we need to check the identity of the beneficiary, make entry, vaccinate and observe them,” said Dr Suresh.