Coimbatore: Nearly 50 people eager to be vaccinated returned home disappointed on Saturday morning after the staff at Kalveerampalayam Primary Health Centre (PHC) reportedly informed them of only having a stock of about 250 Covid-19 vaccines and hence turned some beneficiaries away citing 'unexpected' shortage of stock.
Coimbatore: Nearly 50 people eager to be vaccinated returned home disappointed on Saturday morning after the staff at Kalveerampalayam Primary Health Centre (PHC) reportedly informed them of only having a stock of about 250 Covid-19 vaccines and hence turned some beneficiaries away citing 'unexpected' shortage of stock.
The irked public who had queued up since 8 am with the hope of taking their jabs allege that the PHC had mismanaged the vaccines by routing it to other people including near and dear ones of doctors. Sharing a similar experience are residents of Poochiyur and adjoining villages who were turned away by the PHC staff citing 'Nil Stock' of vaccines. After deciding to step out amidst the pandemic and make preparations the previous day itself to be at the PHC, several hundred senior citizens and others had queued up in front of the PHC even before 8 am, this morning.
According to a person who was awaiting his turn for the jab at the PHC, there were several senior citizens who were made to wait for long hours amidst the crows but were finally turned away by the healthcare staff without a proper explanation. While the healthcare workers reported of limited vaccine stock, Kavidasan (name changed) who had accompanied his father to the Kalveerampalayam PHC on Saturday alleged that after administering just 1/3rd of the vaccines, the remaining stock was routed discreetly to those who came with a recommendation from the doctors including house-keeping staff working at their homes and clinics. Kavidasan was among the few who had arrived at the centre as early as 8 am, two hours before the vaccination centre commenced operation but yet was turned away due to alleged mismanagement.
"Despite explaining to the nursing staff of my father's recent operation in his leg and the discomfort he had to undergo waiting for such long hours, the nurses had nothing to say but show a sorry face," lamented Kavidasan who informed that he had already escalated the issue of alleged hoarding of vaccines to the concerned Corporation officials. Though people are well aware of the vaccine shortage, we go to the appropriate vaccine centres only based on the availability list issued by the Corporation, the previous day. Turning away people with just careless reasons and alleged mismanagement, the government is paving the way for further spread of Covid-19 and also causing immense inconvenience to the public, especially senior citizens," added Kavidasan.
When questioned on the allotment list sent by PHC which stated that 250 vaccines were allotted to Kalveerampalayam PHC, the staff discourteously snapped that they weren't aware of such a circular. "Actually, the particular PHC received the adequate stock of vaccines but they mismanaged it by hoarding for others, supposedly those referred by doctors or officials. With lockdown in place, it is not a cakewalk for people to move around and especially to bring ailing senior citizens to vaccination centres and then having them turned away for petty reasons," alleged Kavidasan.
Backing Kavidasan's allegations was another resident from Selvapuram who also raised similar concerns of making people run from pillar to post and thus have them exposed to helath risks during the pandemic. He urged that the vaccination availability details issued by the Corporation must be adhered to by the respective PHCs instead of framing their own protocols.
Those who experienced similar issues opine that the process is a hassle and people are clueless of when they would actually be administered their jabs of the Covid-19 vaccines. While the staff at PHCs casually say "Stock over, come back tomorrow," they fail to understand the risks of exposure to the public who stand in queues amidst large crowds and then are turned away. With no dedicated queues for senior citizens, one could see that they had to stand in the same queue as people from all age groups, several of whom might be Covid-infected or asymptomatic.
"Why are they making people of our age wait outside in queues in this grave pandemic scenario? The process has to be swift and more counters should be added to fasten the process and reduce our waiting time," complained a 70-year old senior citizen at Kalveerampalayam PHC, on Saturday.
Considering that Coimbatore district has been recording the highest number of fresh Covid-19 cases in the country and that the district has also recorded the highest death rate of 62 which is much higher than Chennai, senior citizens and residents in the district are clueless if the Central or the State government would pay more attention to ramping up vaccine stocks for the general safety of public everywhere.