The Government Medical College and General Hospital at Mahabubnagar have set an example for other health institutions, both in the government and private sector in the State, in meeting the COVID-19 vaccine delivery target.
Director of GMC Mahabubnagar Putta Srinivas said of the 901 healthcare workers in the two institutions, 866 have been inoculated as of January 29 with a coverage of 96.16%.
“With such huge response to vaccination among the healthcare workers of GMC and GGH, we have set an example for other institutions in the State. By doing so, we wish to be a role model for other healthcare workers, a section of whom have some hesitation,” he said.
According to GMC and GGH Mahabubnagar officials, the total number of healthcare workers including doctors, nursing staff, paramedical staff, technical staff and other support staff in GMC was 453 and that in GGH, the number stood at 517. However, 28 healthcare workers in GMC and 41 in GGH were not eligible for vaccination as they included pregnant women, lactating mothers and others having reasons on medical grounds.
With 413 of the 425 eligible healthcare workers in GMC and 453 out of 476 in GGH being vaccinated, the inoculation rate has been 97.17% in GMC and 95.6% in GMC. The remaining 12 and 24 remaining healthcare workers in the two institutions, respectively, have cited different reasons including allergies, medication, not willing and others for not getting inoculated.
NO AEFI cases
Dr. Putta Srinivas stated that except for pain at the injection site, mild headache and mild fever in some cases, no other adverse event following immunisation (AEFI) have been reported in the two institutions so far.
Meanwhile, the percentage of healthcare workers in the State and Central government institutions to be inoculated as of Friday was 64 as 1,09,161 of the 1,76,728 were given the vaccine. In the private institutions, the coverage was 35.5% as 54,879 out of 1,54,396 healthcare workers were inoculated. The cumulative percentage of vaccination was 57.
47% covered on Friday
According to the officials of the Directorate of Public Health, only 47% of the healthcare workers targeted for inoculation on Friday were covered in 352 sessions planning for the day. As against a total 32,635 healthcare workers planned to be covered on the day, only 15,360 took the vaccine. Only two minor AEFI were reported and both the individuals were said to be stable.
Director of Public Health Dr. G. Srinivasa Rao stated that vaccination for the private healthcare workers would continue on January 30 and again next week on February 3, 4 and 5.
