The second dry run conducted on Friday to assess the State’s preparedness at all levels before the actual roll out of COVID-19 vaccine witnessed some minor logistical and technical glitches during beneficiary verification on the Co-Win portal.
The BBMP has now recommended to the State Health Department that more number of vaccination sites be set up in medical and nursing colleges, apart from holding the vaccination drive on weekends.
In BBMP maternity and referral hospitals that were identified as vaccine sites, the dry run clashed with the ANC (antenatal care) Day held on Fridays. Moreover, there were power supply issues and network issues apart from technical problems with the software.
The second run was conducted in 263 vaccine session sites involving all districts in the State. Vaccine session sites were set up in 24 district hospitals, 20 medical college hospitals, 43 taluk hospitals, 31 community health centres, 87 primary health centres, 30 urban primary health care centres and 28 private health centres. The first dry run on January 2 was conducted in three vaccine session sites in each of five districts.
Sources said the mock exercise was delayed by an hour in some vaccine sites in a few districts because of the software glitches and power supply issues. However, Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, who visited some vaccine sites in Bengaluru, said arrangements and preparedness were good. “All protocols have been followed as per the guidelines issued by the Centre,” he said.
BBMP’s Chief Health Officer (Public Health) Dr. Vijayendra admitted that the dry run clashed with the ANC day that is held every Friday at the Ulsoor Referral Hospital. “There was some difficulty in managing the crowd due to space constraints. Usually, every Friday, pregnant women come to the hospital for a check-up,” he said.
Remedial measures
Rajendra Cholan, Special Commissioner (Health), BBMP, said that with regard to power supply issues, the civic body had recommended UPS backup and coordination with Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) for uninterrupted supply.
He said that the civic body had mapped the beneficiaries to the various medical facilities that have been shortlisted for vaccination sites. “The sites have been divided according to the number of beneficiaries – less than 100, 100-500, 500-1,000, more than 1,000,” he said and added that some slight modifications to the earlier shortlisted site locations were being made. The locations will be finalised by Saturday, he said.
Mr. Cholan said that BBMP was coordinating with the various medical colleges and nursing colleges for the setting up of the vaccination sites. Given the infrastructure, more sites may be set up within one location. “We have recommended to the government to ensure that vaccination is taken up during weekends, when colleges have holidays, and also so that there is no clash with the regular activities of the institution,” he said.