CHANDIGARH: Unable to get vaccination slots in Gurugram due to a shortage, the residents of the millennium city are going to other districts such as Rewari, Rohtak and Jind to get vaccinated. Then there is also a shortage of hospital beds as 600 critical patients requiring institutional care are on the waiting list as Covid wards of all hospitals are full.
Sources said due to a limited vaccine supply, the local health authorities are prioritizing for those to be given the second dose, which means recipients looking for the first dose have to look for places like Delhi, Far Faridabad, Rewari and Rohtak.
“When you register, you find non-availability of the first dose at most centers. Private hospitals have virtually halted vaccination. So, what can you do? I got a slot in Rewari and drove there to get the jab,’’ says Ritika Pahuja, 33.
Vaccine shortage apart, it is also the fear of contracting the infection at vaccination centres in the city that has kept the people away. Social distancing is not being followed, which drives the people to other places. “The Covid protocol is executed at Delhi vaccination centres, which is completely absent in Gurugram. I am a diabetic and this was my second dose.
Neither people who come to get the vaccine nor those administering it follow any protocol. Most people who get infected are the ones who have been to vaccination centres. So, I drove to Delhi to get it,” says Mahveer Kumar. Sources said nearby districts like Charkhi Dadri and Rewari have a low inoculation rate and are administering vaccines even to those who just walk in. As Covid cases are rising sharply in NCR, including Gurugram, and most deaths have been reported of those aged below 50, there is a desperate rush to get the vaccine amongst the younger lot.
Sources said some 5,000 Covid patients have registered on the portal launched by the district administration to get hospital admission in the city. The administration has deployed a team of doctors to scrutinize the applications and reach out to applicants to determine the actual number of people requiring hospitalization. Officials said so far, they have reached out to 3,671 people, of whom 600 are in a critical condition, but have been put on the waiting list because Covid wards of all hospitals are full.
The district administration has directed all hospitals with a capacity of over 50 beds to make their own arrangements for oxygen amid allegations of preferential treatment to big hospitals in the allotment. The hospitals have been told to either set up their own plants or make arrangements for pressure swing adsorption oxygen generation. “We have given instructions to hospitals with more than 50 beds to manage their own oxygen needs, whether through liquid oxygen plants or by arranging a PSA,” said a senior official.
