Elderly wait in queue from morning till noon

Nagpur, Mar 3

The elderly and comorbid condition patients, who went for vaccination in the morning did not get the jab till late afternoon. Most of them had not even done proper breakfast and had left home, having just a cup of tea. There was complete chaos at Indira Gandhi Hospital, which is a designated vaccine centre.

No planning, no physical distancing, no proper arrangement and due to the crowd at the vaccination centre, the staff members were in no position to serve them.

When Lokmat Times team reached the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, the work of building pandal was going on at a slow pace as well as the painting of circles for social distancing was going on. There was huge crowd inside the hospital and outside as well. Around 200-225 senior citizens and elderly had come to the centre for vaccination and registration, but were struggling to do it.

There was a news about Covishield vaccine being administered in the Indira Gandhi Hospital and hence all the people present on the centre had been given token. The timing written on it was from 9 am to 5 pm, but due to lack of planning the elderly citizens who had come since 8 am in the morning were still waiting for immunisation till late afternoon.

Waiting for our turn

Lot of elderly people, who had come since morning 7 am, did not get the vaccine till afternoon. The vaccination process started at 9 am after they got login id and till 1.45 am around 144 people were vaccinated. Due to long wait, there was heated exchange of words between the employees at the hospital and people who had come for vaccination.

REACTIONS

A resident of Ramdaspeth, Kundan Thakkar (78) and Jayshree Thakkar (71) reached the centre at 12 noon for vaccination, as they were allotted that time, but looking at the crowd, they realised that they would be delayed for vaccination.

Padmakar Kashikar (78) said that he had reached at 8.30 am and the people who came before him are still in queue. If a fixed time, is allotted, we would have been saved from lot of trouble.

Ramdaspeth resident Manidevi Trivedi (79) said that she was waiting for her turn from 2.5 hours. It is good that her relatives were with her, else it would have been extremely difficult.

A resident of Sahakar Nagar, Indira Burande said that she reached at 10 am and got the token very late. Now she had been told that her turn will come between 4 and 5 pm, so i have no option but to wait.

Elderly couple from Bajiprabhu Nagar Narendra Verma and Santoshi Verma reached the centre at 7.30 am, but still got a token of 175 number. Some people got the token, even though they came late, as they had their relatives or friends standing in the queue. We cannot go and pick-up a fight with them.

Planning goes for toss!

The entire planning went for toss due to the huge rush since morning. There is a lot of stress on this hospital. On the upper floor, 35 Covid positive patients are admitted for treatment. There is also a testing center on the first floor. Everyday 4 to 5 samples are being found positive. Therefore, it is our priority to avoid spread of infection. The facility is small and we are getting huge crowd. A pandal is being built outside for the convenience of the patients. Drinking water is also provided.

- Dr Kanchan Kimatkar,

Incharge, Indira Gandhi Hospital