Maharashtra: CoWIN glitches in remote areas of Palghar, officials say lessons learnt

FROM 8 am on Saturday, Nilesh Rawal’s eyes were trained onto his laptop, two mobile phones in his hands, as he made rapid calls to district level officials. The CoWIN page refused to load onto his screen. By 10.30 am, when PM Narendra Modi began his speech, Rawal, the administrative officer in Palghar’s sub-district hospital, was surrounded by staff in panic. An internet operator and a technician from Jawhar village were summoned and, eventually, at 12.35 pm, the vaccination drive started. It was, however, without CoWIN as the software glitch could not be set right.

By then, Dr Anand Adsul, the first beneficiary, had already waited for four-and-a-half hours. Local MLA Sunil Bhusara could not wait any longer and posed for a photograph with a nurse, who pretended to inject Adsul.

The sub-district hospital in Jawhar, located in the tribal hilly terrain of Palghar, is one of the few remote hospitals demonstrating challenges in rural and tribal areas as India takes to a digital platform for the first time for a countrywide immunisation drive.

CoWIN, an online software, will require all data of health beneficiaries to be uploaded in real time when they get the shot. This software is also supposed to create and send automated messages scheduling appointment for vaccination. But in Jawhar hospital, the superintendent personally informed all 100 beneficiaries when the software did not work on Friday. In Dahanu sub-district hospital, 70 km from Palghar, the CoWIN software stopped working after the first beneficiary was registered. Even at the Palghar rural hospital, where the internet signal is comparatively better, the software was slow.

Officials said while internet was one problem, too much traffic on the software could be another. “We were trained to use it, but it looks like the software has been updated and I am learning to navigate it now,” said Rawal, who sat at the registration desk in Jawhar.

The Jawhar hospital has installed a 10 Mbps Wi-Fi router and asked a technician to remain on standby for the next few days. Taluka health officer Dr Kiran Patil said for rural and tribal areas, digital technology will be the biggest impediment to the vaccination programme. “But we are learning,” he said.

Keeping in mind the next phase, Palghar immunisation officer Dr Milind Chavan said they planned to select schools, primary health centres with good network. “These centres will be in proximity to specialised hospitals to manage adverse events. Today was like a trial for us and we learnt lessons…”